Re:50 Years Ago Jocelyn Bell Discovered Pulsars
by taneq on Thursday November 30, 2017 @07:40AM
(#15815260)
> Being the first to lay eyes on something is not typically what we mean, in science, by discovering it.
Yes it is. Take Pluto, for example. Astronomers predicted Pluto mathematically from other planets' orbits decades before it was 'discovered':
> Subsequent observations of Neptune in the late 19th century led astronomers to speculate that Uranus's orbit was being disturbed by another planet besides Neptune. (Edit: changed quote to correct one.)
> Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930 [...]
> On February 18, 1930, after nearly a year of searching, Tombaugh discovered a possible moving object on photographic plates taken on January 23 and 29.
Yes it is. Take Pluto, for example. Astronomers predicted Pluto mathematically from other planets' orbits decades before it was 'discovered':
> Subsequent observations of Neptune in the late 19th century led astronomers to speculate that Uranus's orbit was being disturbed by another planet besides Neptune. (Edit: changed quote to correct one.)
> Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930 [...]
> On February 18, 1930, after nearly a year of searching, Tombaugh discovered a possible moving object on photographic plates taken on January 23 and 29.
(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluto)
Edit: He also has an asteroid and a Lunar crater named after him.