How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming, Mike Brown (365 Books, Day 150)

[rushthatspeaks]

A reminder: still doing reviews out of order, still somewhat behind, still reading a book every day. I hope to be caught up tomorrow or the day after.

I had been tangentially aware of the astronomer Mike Brown, and that he discovers objects in the Kuiper Belt, because of sovay winning the contest he held to name the moon of the dwarf planet Orcus; she named it Vanth.

I also vaguely remember the press surrounding the time when there were briefly maybe ten planets, and then maybe nine, and then Pluto was demoted and we wound up with eight. I had not remembered that that was sparked by Mike Brown's discovery of a larger object than Pluto beyond Pluto's orbit-- the not-actually-tenth planet.

Now he's written this fascinating, charming, and funny memoir about that period, and I can't recommend it too highly. This book really has everything; it's a neat portrait of how a working astronomer goes about things (the ins and outs of telescopes, telescope time, travel to odd bits of the world to use telescopes, computer programming, a lot of staring at sky photos), but also covers interactions with the press, his marriage and the birth of his daughter (which, surprisingly for this sort of memoir, are covered in a way which weaves neatly in and out of the astronomy and adds to it rather than detracting), and a truly amazing incident involving some Spanish astronomers, an internet chat group, and data theft, which I will not attempt to describe. His explanations of the issues surrounding the definition of the word 'planet' are clear and well-argued, as are his summaries of the ways things could have gone and the way they did go.

And throughout it all, he comes across as a good man and a good scientist, a person who is doing what he loves, and loves what he is doing, and who has the kind of infectious delight in his work that must make him an interesting professor.

This book is so lovely that I forgive, although I could not help but notice, a minor error early on in his description of the Norse mythology behind the names of the days of the week. Thor is not, and never has been, the king of the gods.

Apart from that, this is one of the best things I've read in a very long time, and I profoundly hope he writes more books; this is the sort of writing on science that will be a treasure for many years to come, and is definitely the thing you want to hand people when they ask why we used to have nine planets and nowadays have eight.

Comments

[adrian_turtle]

This looks wonderful, and I will put it on my library list. Thank you.

There isn't much of this kind of integrated science writing out there. Your description reminds me of Cliff Stoll's Cuckoo's Egg, in some ways. (Though that was about much more applied science, and early computer hacking.)

While my mind is going in that direction, I can't help mentioning The Sand Reckoner, Gillian Bradshaw's fictionalized bio of Archimedes. It's one of my comfort reads, because:
And throughout it all, he comes across as a good man and a good scientist, a person who is doing what he loves, and loves what he is doing, and who has the kind of infectious delight in his work that must make him an interesting professor.
Your words happen to be right, except he's frustrated by his inability to make anybody understand the math behind what he's trying to do. Plenty of infectious delight, though.

[rushthatspeaks]

*notes down the books you mention as they both sound interesting* Thank you! I suspect you'll like this one, it's a joy.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I never heard of this, and it sounds marvelous.

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

It is also my nomination for Best Book Title of 2010, especially as the title is completely accurate.

The title isn't accurate

[laurele.livejournal.com]

The Pluto debate remains ongoing, with the astronomy community remaining divided over Pluto's planet status. Therefore the title is highly misleading. Dr. Alan Stern, who coined the term "dwarf planet" back in 1991, created it to mean a third class of planets in addition to terrestrials and jovians, small objects large enough to be rounded by their own gravity but not large enough to gravitationally dominate their orbits. He never intended for dwarf planets to not be considered planets at all.
Here is the petition signed by astronomers rejecting the IAU decision: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/planetprotest/

[sovay]

Now he's written this fascinating, charming, and funny memoir about that period, and I can't recommend it too highly.

I shall acquire it.

[kchew.livejournal.com]

I felt pretty much the same, including about the Thor error.

[jesusandrew.livejournal.com]

Thor is not, and never has been, the king of the gods.

Unless you count a brief period in Marvel Comics :)

[larryhammer]

Thor is not, and never has been, the king of the gods.

Well, he was always the most popular of them. But still, *headdesk*

---L.

[ookpik.livejournal.com]

The author was speaking locally last week; I skipped it because of the weather. He also gave an interview on NPR's "On Point" in, I think, December--came across as you say, completely charming. (I believe the interview is still available on podcast, via the NPR website.)

[radiotelescope.livejournal.com]

I went to hear him despite the weather, and his speaking voice is as good as his writing voice. He has good slides too. Do not discount a talent for slides among a professor's assets.

(Sadly I failed to locate a copy of Donald A. Wollheim's _Secret of the Ninth Planet_ for him to sign.)

[jinian.livejournal.com]

Ooh. Pop astronomy has so few great books, I must find this one immediately and read it thinking of Maria Mitchell!

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

I thought of you, specifically, while reading it, as being a person who would like this book.

It's just one side of an ongoing debate

[laurele.livejournal.com]

Our solar system does not have only eight planets, and Brown's discovery, Eris, was found in November 2010 to be slightly smaller than Pluto, not larger. Pluto is not dead; Mike Brown tried but failed to "kill" it. The IAU demotion was done by only four percent of its members, most of whom are not planetary scientists. It was opposed by hundreds of planetary scientists in a formal petition led by Dr. Alan Stern, Principal Investigator of NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto. Even Dr. Neil de Grasse Tyson admits the debate is ongoing. I encourage people to learn both sides of the issue. Some good pro-Pluto as a planet books are "Is Pluto A Planet?" by Dr. David Weintraub, "The Case for Pluto" by Alan Boyle, and my own book, hopefully out in 2011, "The Little Planet that Would Not Die: Pluto's Story."