The discovery of Pluto came from noticing a moving point of light in astronomical images. The discussion then turns to the cyclotron and the growth of research built around large scientific instruments.
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46:421930 discovery of Pluto, which is no longer a planet. >> Yes. But still important. Um Clyde Tombbo working at the Lowel Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. You can still visit it. He discovered Pluto. He was looking at plates and he saw a little dot move and he's like, "Oh, that's a planet." >> And uh predicted planet X, which is now planet Pluto. 1931 invention invention of the cyclotron. >> Yes, we went over this in our Oenheimer episode. Yes. >> Lawrence at Berkeley, he established the idea of big science. He invented the cyclron, which is really the first particle accelerator. He used magnetic fields to make the electrons move around
47:24really fast, shoot them at targets, things like that. Um 1939 Nobel Prize in physics. Really the first guy to invent big science. Give me money, I will build big instruments and I will do big things >> and we will do it bigly.