I graduated from high school in 2003. Back then, we were taught that there are nine planets in the solar system: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. But in 2006, the IAU (International Astronomical Union) deprived Pluto of the status of a planet, coining the name dwarf planets for it and many other similar celestial bodies. That is, for the past almost 20 years, everyone has been learning about eight planets in astronomy classes, although since 1930, when Pluto was discovered and recognized, humanity has known about nine.
This unequivocally historic event, not only for science, happened thanks to the American astronomer Michael Brown. A few years before this important decision of the International Astronomical Union, he discovered the tenth planet (now known as Eris), and then another and another. However, this scientist saw a problem in this and decided to solve it, which in the end led not to an increase in the number of planets in our solar system, but rather to a decrease. How it happened, how much hard work it took, how Michael Brown and his colleagues almost stole the discovery of the planets, and many other interesting things you will learn from the new book «How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming» from the publishing house «Bearded Tamarin».
Author Michael Brown
Translator Oleksiy Abramenko
Publisher «Bearded Tamarin»
Language Ukrainian
Number of pages 272
Cover Solid
Year of publication 2024
Size 135×210 mm
Website tamarinbooks.com
The book «How I Killed Pluto and Why It Was Inevitable» — is not only an explanation of the decisions of the International Astronomical Union, but also a personal, sometimes very intimate story about scientific passion, rivalry, discovery, and the unexpected consequences of public fame. Its author, Michael Brown, despite the loud title, does not play the role of a heartless destroyer of Pluto as a planet. On the contrary, his sober and critical view of science helped him to be meticulous about his discoveries, to launch and maintain the process of reducing the number of planets. Then he was able to withstand the fierce pressure of criticism, disapproval, and other such things.
The author’s style is clear, ironic, and witty. The scientist does not hide his emotions, does not hesitate to talk about doubts, mistakes, and accidents that sometimes lead to the most important discoveries in science.
This means that the book «How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming» is not a dry scientific monograph or a report for a narrow circle of specialists. It is rather a light popular science diary with elements of adventure prose. It contains nighttime observations through a telescope, disputes between scientific groups, random findings in databases, frantic days before press conferences, and at the same time family stories: the birth of a daughter, life between science and parenthood, the child’s first words — and the first astronomical discoveries named after her.
However, there are strange, in my opinion, pages or even short chapters where the author talks exclusively about his daughter and his fatherhood. It’s like a popular science publication about the planets, so I don’t understand why we need such moments without it at all. When an author draws parallels between family and science, when he shows himself to be a person for whom the most important thing in the week was a marriage proposal and a «Yes» answer from his fiancée, rather than the discovery of a planet, then he becomes closer to the reader. He becomes more human and realistic. But when in a book about «murder» Pluto I read several times for a couple of pages exclusively about the author’s daughter, it is not interesting and not appropriate for me, even though I am a father myself.
«How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming» a book for the widest range of readers, and I recommend it to all of you. Because in it, Michael Brown explains complex things in an accessible way. The construction of orbits, mass ratios, gravitational influences — all this sounds clear, as if the author were telling his friend over dinner. And even when it comes to the formal principles by which celestial bodies fall into the category «planet» or «dwarf planet», the author finds a way to make it fascinating, and most importantly, understandable.
He is frank in his stories about rivalry with colleagues, the struggle for scientific priority, and the tension before discoveries become public. Some of these episodes sound no less dramatic than a detective story or even a spy thriller. For example, the case when his discovery was tried «intercepted» by other researchers makes us think that not everything in science is as sterile and objective as it sometimes seems.
The book has another deeper layer. It is a reflection on how our picture of the world is changing. Mike Brown doesn’t just tell us why Pluto has ceased to be a planet — he leads the reader to understand that science — is not a set of eternal truths, but a constant process of refinement, and a lot of conventions and «agreements» between certain groups of scientists, champions of one or another concept.
Sometimes this process is painful, sometimes — funny, but always alive. And so, instead of nostalgia for «good old Pluto» the book leaves you with a sense of belonging to something much bigger — the very evolution of knowledge and understanding of astronomy as a science.
It should be understood that the book is entirely focused on the opinions, and most importantly, the position of Brown himself, because he wrote it. There will be no opinions of his colleagues, opponents, or simply neutral observers. This is definitely a strong, vivid author’s story about astronomy and his love for it, but it is still a bit one-sided. However, the author’s honesty and sincerity compensate for all of the above — there is no claim to absolute truth here, but rather a proposal to look at science through the eyes of a person who has made a very big contribution to it.
As always with books by «Borodatyi Tamarin», we have a great quality design of the publication, stylish atmospheric cover, flyleaves, and color photos on glossy paper. I like the paper they use, I like the font and its size. But they didn’t deliver the lace.
