87 Years of Pluto: Complete List of Signatories Who Signed 2006 Petition Rejecting IAU Definition

February 18, 1930, is a tribute to underdogs.

On this day, 87 years ago, 24-year-old Clyde Tombaugh, working at the Lowell Observatory with just a high school diploma, discovered planet Pluto using a blink comparator to move back and forth between two photographic plates of the same portion of the night sky, taken on January 23 and January 29 of that year.

Unfortunately, too often biased in favor of the controversial IAU decision, the mainstream media report that “Pluto was a planet for 76 years.” For many, ranging from top planetary scientists and astronomers to amateur astronomers to citizen scientists and members of the public, Pluto has been a planet—a known planet—for 87 years and counting.

Actually, Pluto has been a planet for four billion years and counting. It just took a long time for a late-coming species to the planet Earth to discover it.

Even ten-and-half years later, many people are unaware of basic facts about Pluto’s status—such as the fact that only four percent of the IAU voted on the definition that demoted Pluto, and most were not planetary scientists but other types of astronomers. In other words, they were NOT experts in this field and do NOT even study planets.

Just 333 of 424 IAU members present voted that dwarf planets should not be counted as planets, a misuse of the term “dwarf planet” as coined by Alan Stern, who intended the term to designate a third class of planets in addition to terrestrials and jovians.

Within several days, an equal number of professional astronomers and planetary scientists, about 300, signed a formal petition rejecting the IAU definition, a move that unfortunately got very little media attention.

For several years their petition and the names and affiliations of all signatories were posted online at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/planetprotest/ . I am now reposting the wording of the petition as well as the names and affiliations of the signatories to keep this information available to the public.

“We, as planetary scientists and astronomers, do not agree with the IAU's

definition of a planet, nor will we use it. A better definition is needed.”

As noted on the original petition site, “In less than five days, the petition was signed by 300 professional planetary scientists and astronomers. The list of signatories includes researchers who have studied every kind of planet in the solar system, as well as asteroids, comets, the Kuiper Belt, and planet interactions with space environment. They have been involved in the robotic exploration of the solar system from some of the earliest missions to Cassini/Huygens, the missions to Mars, ongoing missions to the innermost and outermost reaches of our solar system, and are leading missions preparing to be launched. The list includes prominent experts in

the field of planet formation and evolution, planetary atmospheres, planetary surfaces and interiors, and includes international prize winning researchers.

“This petition gives substantial weight to argument that the IAU definition of planet does not meet fundamental scientific standards and should be set aside,” states petition organizer Dr. Mark Sykes, director of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona. “A more open process, involving a broader cross section of the community engaged in planetary studies of our own solar system and others should be undertaken.”

“I believe more planetary experts signed the petition than were involved in the vote on the IAU’s petition. From the number of signatories that the petition received in a few days, it’s clear that there is significant unhappiness among scientists with the IAU’s planet definition, and that it will not be universally adopted by scientists and text book writers. To achieve a good planet definition that achieves scientific consensus will require more work.” added co-sponsor Dr. Alan Stern, Executive Director of the Space Science and Engineering Division of the Southwest Research Institute.

The Signatories:

PETITION PROTESTING THE IAU PLANET DEFINITION

FIRST NAME LAST NAME         INSTITUTION

Hal Weaver                                        Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

Ralph McNutt                                   Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

Andrew Cheng                                  JHU/APL

Amy Lovell                                        Agnes Scott College

Darren Baird                                     UCLA

Christopher Russell                          UCLA

Elizabeth Jensen                                UCLA

Mark Sykes                                        PSI (Planetary Science Institute)

Michael Gaffey                                  Space Studies, U. North Dakota

John Lambert                                    The Boeing Company

Tony Farnham                                   University of Maryland

David Rabinowitz                              Yale University *(co-discoverer of Eris)*

Curtis Cooper                                    Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona

Alan Chamberlin                              Jet Propulsion Laboratory

H. Warren Moos                               Johns Hopkins University

Chris McKay                                     NASA Ames

Eldar Noe                                           Malin Space Science Systems

Scott Michael                                     Indiana University

Jennifer Piatek                                  University of Tennessee

Krista Soderlund                               UCLA

Sanjay Limaye                                   University of Wisconsin

Kathy Rages                                      SETI Institute

Erin Ryan                                          University of Minnesota

Beatrice Mueller                                Planetary Science Institute

Barry Lutz                                         Northern Arizona University

Stephen Maran                                  American Astronomical Society

David Kuehn                                      Pittsburg State University

Leslie Bleamaster                              Planetary Science Institute

Peter Bender                                      Univ. of Colorado

Kenneth Mighell                                National Optical Astronomy Observatory

Larry Lebofsky                                 U. of Arizona

Kem Cook                                          Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

David Levy                                        Jarnac Observatory

Horton Newsom                                Univ. of New Mexico

Kurt Retherford                               Southwest Research Institute

Wendee Wallach-Levy                      Jarnac Observatory

Nanette Vigil                                      Jarnac Observatory

Francis Graham                                Kent State University

janet luhmann                                   SSL, Univ. of California, Berkeley

Bryan Butler                                      National Radio Astronomy Observatory

Harold Geller                                     George Mason University

Will Grundy                                      Lowell Observatory

James Dire                                         Gardner-Webb University

Nicola Richmond                               Planetary Science Institute

Peter Thomas                                    Cornell University

Howard Smith                                   University of Virginia

Alan Stern                                          SwRI (Southwest Research Institute)

Vladimir Krasnopolsky                    CUA (Catholic University of America)

Colleen Milbury                                UCLA

Britney Schmidt                                UCLA

Jennifer Benson                                University Of Toledo

Alan Howard                                     University of Virginia

Tae-Soo Pyo                                       Subaru Telescope

Wayne Pryor                                      Central Arizona College

Tanya Tavenner                                New Mexico State University

Steve Howell                                      NOAO

Robert Carlson                                  JPL

Jason Soderblom                               Cornell University

MARK WYSOCKI                          CORNELL UNIVERSITY

William Rossow                                City College of New York

William McKinnon                           Washington University

Jody Wilson                                       Boston University

Iain Reid                                            STScI (Space Telescope Science Institute)

Nadine Barlow                                  Northern Arizona University

Mark B. Vincent                               MRO 2.4m, New Mexico Tech

Philip James                                       Space Science Institute

Vishnu Reddy                                    University of North Dakota

Denise Stephens                                 Johns Hopkins University

Lawrence Wasserman                      Lowell Observatory

Colby Jurgenson                               Magdalena Ridge Observatory

Roger Knacke                                    Penn State Erie

Darrell Strobel                                   Johns Hopkins University

Steven Ostro                                      JPL

Ronald Elsner                                    NASA Marshall Space Flight Center

Robert Marcialis                               LPL (Lunar & Planetary Laboratory, Univ. of Arizona)

Mark Showalter                                SETI Institute

Linda Spilker                                     JPL

Larry Paxton                                     Johns Hopkins University

William Jackson                                University of California

Theodor Kostiuk                               NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Robert Kolvoord                               James Madison University

Glenn Orton                                      JPL

Paul Strycker                                     New Mexico State University

Nicholas Sperling                              The University of Toledo

Mark Everett                                     Planetary Science Institute

D. Chris Benner                                College of William and Mary

Jim Elliot                                            Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Walter Huebner                                Southwest research Inst.

Michael Mickelson                            DENISON UNIVERSITY

Giles Marion                                      Desert Research Institute

James Ferris                                      Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Institute

Henry Throop                                   Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO

Larry Petro                                        Space Telescope Science Institute

Chris Churchill                                 New Mexico State University

Gordon Bjoraker                              NASA/GSFC

Robert Fritzius                                  Shade Tree Physics

Daniel MacDonald                            JPL

Brendan Fisher                                 JPL

Linda French                                     Illinois Wesleyan University

Bernard Bates                                   University of Puget Sound

Richard Tresch Fienberg                 Sky & Telescope

Mary Bourke                                     Planetary Science Institute

Carol Neese                                        Planetary Science Institute

Ed Smith                                            STScI

Christopher Gelino                           Spitzer Science Center/IPAC

Richard Wagener                              Brookhaven National Laboratory

Truman Kohman                              Carnegie-Mellon University

John Stansberry                                Steward Obs., U. Arizona

Alex Storrs                                         Towson Univ.

G. Leonard Tyler                              Stanford University

Brandon Lawton                               New Mexico State University

Mark Hammergren                           Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum

Peregrine McGehee                          Los Alamos National Laboratory

Robert Seaman                                  National Optical Astronomy Observatory

Marc Buie                                          Lowell Observatory

Landon Noll                                       Fremont Peak Observatory

Adam Burgasser                               MIT

Michael Kelley                                  Georgia Southern University

Uwe Fink                                           Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona

David Crisp                                       JPL/Caltech

H. Bradford Barber                          University of Arizona

Einstein Miller                                   OCC, CU, MMCC

Robin Evans                                      Gibbel Corporation

Kurt Anderson                                  Apache Point Observatory and NM State University

Erik Asphaug                                    University of California, Santa Cruz

William Newman                              UCLA

Jose Francisco Salgado                    Adler Planetarium

Stamatios Krimigis                           JHU/APL

Michael Mautner                              Virginia Commonwealth University

Simon Mitton                                    University of Cambridge

Raul Baragiola                                  University of Virginia

Michael Allison                                  Goddard Inst for Space Studies

Cathy Olkin                                       SwRI

Judith Young                                     University of Massachusetts

Michael Kelley                                   University of Minnesota

Meg Spohn                                         University of Denver

Tashonia Blackwell                           Norfolk State University

Brian Warner                                    Palmer Divide Observatory

Alison Bridger                                   San Jose State University

Alanna Garay                                    National Astronomical Observatory of Japan

Henry Alwyn Wootten                      Natl. Radio Astronomy Observatory

M. L. Delitsky                                    CSE (College of St. Elizabeth)

Ira Nolt                                               Retired NASA

Jayant Murthy                                  IIA (Indian Institute of Astrophysics)

William Merline                                SwRI

Daryl Swade                                      STScI

Amar Rao                                          UCLA

Robert Novak                                    Iona College

Joe Peterson                                       Southwest Research Institute

Donald Jennings                                Goddard Space Flight Center

Michael Wolff                                    Space Science Institute

Randy Gladstone                              SwRI

Jeffrey Moore                                    NASA Ames Research Center

Fred Franklin                                    Harvard-Smithsonian CFA

Kevin Stube                                       University of Arizona

David Tholen                                     University of Hawaii

Russ Walker                                      MIRA (Monterey Institute for Research in Astronomy)

Eliot Young                                        Southwest Research Institute

Michael Finch                                    The University of Arizona

David Crown                                     Planetary Science Institute

William Cassidy                                 University of Pittsburgh

Joel Parker                                        Southwest Research Institute

Noel Jackson                                      University of Southern Queensland, Australia

David Portree                                    Lowell Observatory

Jonathan Gradie                               BAE Systems NES Imaging & Surveillance

Philip Massey                                     Lowell Observatory

Paul Grogger                                     University of Colorado

Joseph Ajello                                     JPL

Lou Weeks                                         AAS Member

Galen Gisler                                       University of Oslo

Thomas Stephens                              NASA GSFC

Jared Leisner                                     UCLA

Gregory Hoppa                                 Raytheon

Robert Barron                                   Tel Aviv Uni.

Laurent Montesi                                Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Deidre Hunter                                   Lowell Observatory

James Mueller                                   JHU/APL

Michael Stevens                                 Naval Research Laboratory

Scott Milster                                      ATK Mission Research

Hoi Fung Chau                                  University of Hong Kong

Knut Olsen                                         National Optical Astronomy Observatory

Anthony Roman                                Space Telescope Science Institute

Catherine Johnson                            UCSD

Grace Wolf-Chase                            University of Chicago

Bernard Noeller                                Community College of Baltimore County

Ellen Howell                                      Arecibo Observatory

Robert Reynolds                               University Of Arizona - LPL

Thomas Kehoe                                  University of Florida

David Hinson                                     Stanford University

Dan Moynihan                                  Lunar and Planetary Laboratory

Glenn Dantzler                                  Settlemyre Planetarium

Thomas Hill                                       Rice University

Justin Bartel                                      Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center

Rodney Martin                                  Wm. Brish Planetarium

Steven Russo                                      Schenectady Museum Planetarium

Maurice Collins                                 Amateur Astronomer

Douglas ReVelle                                Los Alamos National Laboratory

John Cooper                                      NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Martha Leake                                   Valdosta State University

JOHN BRANDT                               U. of New Mexico

Duncan Young                                  University of Texas

Chuck See                                          University of Arizona

Stephen Becker                                 Los Alamos National Lab

Bonnie Buratti                                  Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Sally Oey                                           University of Michigan

Laurence Trafton                             Univ. Texas at Austin

David Bartlett                                    University of Colorado

Faith Vilas                                          MMT Observatory

David Grinspoon                               Denver Museum of Nature & Science

Carolyn Shoemaker                          USGS

Robert Craddock                              Smithsonian Institution

Priscilla Cerroni                                IASF INAF Roma Italy

John Dragon                                      Los Alamos National Laboratory

Charles Cowley                                 Astron. Dept. U. of Michigan

Wayne Hayes                                     University of California, Irvine

Nilton Renno                                     University of Michigan

Amy Simon-Miller                             NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Louise Prockter                                 JHU/APL

David Klassen                                    Rowan Univeristy

Bradley Schaefer                               Louisiana State University

Ilana Dashevsky                                STScI

Lawrrence Sromovsky                     University of Wisconsin - Madison

Richard Schmude, Jr.                       Gordon College

David Weintraub                              Vanderbilt University

Barbara Carlson                               NASA/GISS

Gary Copeland                                  Old Dominion Univsersity

Gerhard Neukum                             Freie Universitaet Berlin, Germany

Yi-Jehng Kuan                                  National Taiwan Normal University

Tom Van Flandern                           Meta Research

Edward Tedesco                               University of New Hampshire

John Richardson                               M.I.T.

Jon Jenkins                                        SETI Institute

Dariusz Lis                                         California Institute of Technology

Minho Choi                                        Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute

David Dunham                                  Johns Hopkins Univ./Applied Physics Lab.

Michael Haken                                  NASA/GSFC

Craig Fry                                           Exploration Physics International, Inc.

Jean Chiar                                         SETI Institute/NASA Ames

Clark Chapman                                Southwest Research Inst.

Jasmine Santana                               University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Laura Woodney                                California State Univ, San Bernardino

Fran Bagenal                                     University of Colorado

Gregory Smith                                   SRI International

Victoria Meadows                             IPAC/Caltech

Shane Byrne                                      University of Arizona

Steven Lee                                          Denver Museum of Nature & Science

Susan Postawko                                University of Oklahoma

Michael Summers                             George Mason University

Amy Donnelly                                    Herkimer BOCES Planetarium

Joseph VEVERKA                           Cornell

Herbert Beebe                                   New Mexico State Univ (retired)

Niescja Turner                                  Florida Institute of Technology

Bidushi Bhattacharya                       Spitzer Science Center, Caltech

Paul Helfenstein                                Cornell University

David H. Smith                                  National Research Council

Howard Houben                                Bay Area Environmental Research Institute

Carrie Anderson                               New Mexico State University

Bernhard Schulz                               IPAC/Caltech

Scott Severson                                   UCO/Lick Observatory

Carl Grillmair                                   Spitzer Science Center

James Colbert                                    Spitzer Science Center

Thomas Jarrett                                  IPAC/Caltech

Reta Beebe                                         New Mexico State University

Oliver Hartmnann                             FU Berlin, Remote sensing of the earth and planets,

Geosciences

Melissa Nelson                                   University of New Mexico

Patrick Ogle                                       Spitzer Science Center

Larry Friesen                                    University of Houston at Clear Lake

Jeffrey Bary                                      University of Virginia

Roc Cutri                                           IPAC/Caltech

John McGraw                                   University of New Mexico

Paul Steffes                                        Georgia Institute of Technology

Paul Romani                                      NASA - Goddard Space Flight Center

W. David Carrier, III                       Lunar Geotechnical Institute

Stephen Shawl                                   University of Kansas

Regina Cody                                      NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Thomas Kelsall                                  NASA/GSFC (ret.)

Stephen Baloga                                  Proxemy Research

Todd Clancy                                      Space Science Institute

Dennis Matson                                   JPL

Nicole Rappaport                              JPL

Barbara Anthony-Twarog               Univ. of Kansas

Bruce Twarog                                   University of Kansas

Bob Molloy                                        Spitzer Science Center/Caltech

Steve Bryson                                      NASA Ames

Gilbert Esquerdo                              Planetary Science Institute

Paul Abell                                          Planetary Science Institute

David Osip                                         Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington

Kandis-Lea Jessup                            Southwest Research Institute

David Huestis                                     SRI International

Ray Russell                                        The Aersospace Corporation

Don Davis                                          Planetary Science Institute

Jim Thieman                                      NASA/GSFC

Samuel Dupree                                  Lockheed Martin Integrated Systems and Solutions

Amara Graps                                    INAF-Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario (IFSI)

Sze-leung Cheung                             Ho Koon Astronomical Center Hong Kong

Stefan Schroeder                               Max-Planck-Institut fuer Sonnensystemforschung

Pablo Gutierrez-Marques                MPS (Max Plancke Institute for Solar System Research)

Michael DiSanti                                 NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center

Sebastian Walter                               FU (The Freie Universität), Berlin

Andrew Potter                                   National Solar Observatory

Irwin Shapiro                                    Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Feng Tian                                           NPP (NASA Postdoctoral Program)

Douglas Caldwell                              SETI Institute

Patricio Rojo                                      Universidad de Chile, Astronomy Department

For those who have not seen it, here are links to my February 18, 2013, blog entry, “Responding to the IAU: Pluto and the Developing Landscape of Our Solar System.” This is a point-by-point rebuttal of the IAU’s statement justifying the 2006 vote, posted on its home page (Content is identical on both sites): http://laurele.livejournal.com/2013/02/18/ and http://laurelsplutoblog.blogspot.com/2013/02/responding-to-iau-pluto-and-developing.html