Librarian Falconer Madan, while having breakfast with his 11-year-old niece, Venetia Phair, reads in the Times about the discovery of the Solar System’s ninth planet. He asks her what name she would give it, and the girl replies, “Pluto,” which is the god of the underworld. Madan notices that the name begins with PL, the initials of Percival Lowell, who had spent many years researching the planet. He suggests it to his friends at the Lowell Observatory, who approve it as the planet’s official name on May 1, 1930. Venetia will still be alive when the New Horizons mission launches to explore Pluto.
