The team guiding the first mission to Pluto is fondly remembering Venetia Burney Phair, the “little girl” who named the ninth planet when it was discovered nearly 80 years ago. Mrs. Phair died April ...

With New Horizons successfully accomplishing a flyby on Pluto, all eyes are on the dwarf planet now, more than ever. Why is it even named such in the first place? Apparently, it was all the doing of ...

Eleven-year-old Venetia Burney was eating breakfast at her home in Oxford, England, on the morning of March 14, 1930, when her grandfather delivered some exciting news. Clyde Tombaugh, an eagle-eyed ...

Alice B. McGinty (alicebmcginty.com) is the award-winning author of almost 50 books for children and runs a summer writing ...

Alice B. McGinty, illus. by Elizabeth Haidle. Random/ Schwartz & Wade, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-5247-6831-7 In 1930 Oxford, young Venetia Burney’s curiosity about the planets is sparked when she and ...

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. When we think of people who have made a contribution of scientific or historical import, we ...

Venetia Burney, age 11, came up with the name “Pluto” for a newly-discovered planet 85 years ago this week. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website.

THE “most influential schoolgirl in astronomical history” has died at the age of 90. Venetia Burney Phair was just 11 when, over breakfast in North Oxford, she named the former planet Pluto. Sitting ...

The student-built science instrument on NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto has been renamed to honor one of astronomy’s most famous students – the “little girl” who named the ninth planet more than ...