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Harper & Brothers
PUBLISHERS
New York and Loi
Dear Dr. Tombaugh:
I trust you won't think me impertinent if I ask you a c
like the sort of question which a prosecuting attorney pops
court-room.
First let me explain the circumstances. I am planning to write a magazine
article in which I will discuss One Day in History - attempting to suggest how
complex and confusing are the processes of history, by dealing with one day in
recent American life and showing what was going on then that seemed exciting and
important to the general public (as measured, for one thing, by newspaper headlines), what was going on that was of more lasting importance but was litble
understood or appreciated at that time, what subsequently important or popularly
exciting phenomena were then in their early and quite unheralded stages, etc. etc,
The day I have chosen is September 3, 1929, when the bull market reached its
peak. (It was a Tuesday, the day after Labor Day of 1929; a very hot day in the
East.) My aim, in short, is to present a cross-section of American history - of
all sorts: political, economic, social, scientific, etc. - twenty-four hours wide,
'"nd now for my question: Can you recall what you were doing on September
5, 1929?
The location of the planet Pluto was announced on March 15, 1930. I know
that this was a matter of endless calculations and refinements of calculations
in which Professor Pickering and others had been active for a very long time.
But if you have any sort of record in the observatory to show at what stage of
this process you were in on that particular date, September 3, 1929, x think it
would be extremely interesting even if you simply spent that day at mathematical
calculations and routine observatory work, and the calculations were simply part
of a long laborious process. That, I think, has a certain interest as showing
what goes before the world shaking announcement.
Don't bother if this is in any way imposing on you. But I should keenly
like to get that small item of information for my collection.
Dr. C. W. Tombaugh,
Lowell Observatory,
Flagstaff, Arizona
Object Description
| Title | Allen, Frederick Lewis, 1936 |
| Series | Lowell Observatory, Box 068, Folder 002 |
| Creator | Allen, Frederick Lewis, 1890-1954; |
| Folder Description | Contains documents from Tombaugh's tenure on the Observatory staff, 1929-1945, as well as a small amount of material relating to later projects that Tombaugh worked on at Lowell Observatory in the 1950s. |
| Subject | History; Astronomy--Research; Discoveries in science; Publications; |
| Relevant Names | Harper & Brothers; Pluto (Dwarf planet); Lowell Observatory; |
| Digital Publisher | New Mexico State University Library |
| Collection | NMSU Department of Astronomy: Clyde W. Tombaugh Papers |
| Source | Scan produced from physical item held by the NMSU Library Archives & Special Collections Department |
| Type | Text |
| Format | image/tiff |
| Language | eng |
Page Description
| Title | Page 1 |
| Series | Lowell Observatory, Box 068, Folder 002 |
| Creator | Allen, Frederick Lewis, 1890-1954 |
| Subject | History; Astronomy--Research; Discoveries in science; Publications; |
| Relevant Names | Harper & Brothers; Pluto (Dwarf planet); |
| Date Original | 1936-01-14 |
| Digital Publisher | New Mexico State University Library |
| Collection | NMSU Department of Astronomy: Clyde W. Tombaugh Papers |
| Digital Identifier | Ms0407pp068002_0020001.tif |
| Source | Scan produced from physical item held by the NMSU Library Archives & Special Collections Department |
| Type | Text |
| Format | image/tiff |
| Language | eng |
| OCR | Harper & Brothers PUBLISHERS New York and Loi Dear Dr. Tombaugh: I trust you won't think me impertinent if I ask you a c like the sort of question which a prosecuting attorney pops court-room. First let me explain the circumstances. I am planning to write a magazine article in which I will discuss One Day in History - attempting to suggest how complex and confusing are the processes of history, by dealing with one day in recent American life and showing what was going on then that seemed exciting and important to the general public (as measured, for one thing, by newspaper headlines), what was going on that was of more lasting importance but was litble understood or appreciated at that time, what subsequently important or popularly exciting phenomena were then in their early and quite unheralded stages, etc. etc, The day I have chosen is September 3, 1929, when the bull market reached its peak. (It was a Tuesday, the day after Labor Day of 1929; a very hot day in the East.) My aim, in short, is to present a cross-section of American history - of all sorts: political, economic, social, scientific, etc. - twenty-four hours wide, '"nd now for my question: Can you recall what you were doing on September 5, 1929? The location of the planet Pluto was announced on March 15, 1930. I know that this was a matter of endless calculations and refinements of calculations in which Professor Pickering and others had been active for a very long time. But if you have any sort of record in the observatory to show at what stage of this process you were in on that particular date, September 3, 1929, x think it would be extremely interesting even if you simply spent that day at mathematical calculations and routine observatory work, and the calculations were simply part of a long laborious process. That, I think, has a certain interest as showing what goes before the world shaking announcement. Don't bother if this is in any way imposing on you. But I should keenly like to get that small item of information for my collection. Dr. C. W. Tombaugh, Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, Arizona |
