After retiring from New Mexico State University in 1973 as an Emeritus Professor of Astronomy, Clyde Tombaugh remained an incredibly active figure in both the scientific community and the public eye. Far from slowing down, he embarked on a vigorous national lecture circuit throughout the 1980s. His primary mission during these years was to raise funds for the Clyde Tombaugh Scholars Fund, an endowment designed to support postdoctoral fellowships in astronomy at NMSU. This effort was a testament to his lifelong commitment to education and his desire to ensure that future generations of researchers had the resources he lacked in his own youth.
Even in his nineties, Tombaugh’s passion for observational astronomy never waned. He was frequently found in the backyard of his home in Mesilla Park, near Las Cruces, using the very same telescopes he had painstakingly built by hand decades earlier. One of his favorites was a 9-inch Newtonian reflector constructed from discarded farm equipment and car parts, including a shaft from his father’s 1910 Buick. His office at the university remained “legendary” among staff for its staggering volume of international correspondence and research data, as he continued to engage with astronomers and enthusiasts from all over the world until his passing in 1997 at the age of 90.
In his final years, Tombaugh also became a prominent voice in the debate over the nature of the solar system. He staunchly defended the planetary status of Pluto, the “ninth planet” he had discovered in 1930, against growing scientific evidence that it might be part of a larger population of icy bodies. While the reclassification of Pluto as a dwarf planet occurred after his death.
Clyde Tombaugh 