Unofficial Tex Murphy

Let's have some fun. Tonight, on Jeopardy, the category dealt with the former planet Pluto. It's original discoverer had the initials PL which also stood for Pluto. The discoverer's name is one we know well, well, his character anyway. Who is the Tex game character that has the same name as the discoverer?

Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto in 1930... It was found when astronomers were trying to figure out why Uranus and Neptune's Orbits seemed odd, so they assumed there was some sort of gravity force effecting them and they discovered Pluto...


I'm still upset about the decision to downgrade Pluto... Pluto will always be a Planet to me...

Good point, Baf. I think I meant to say there was a man with the initials of PL who first stated the possibility of a ninth planet. It was back in the 1800's. He did not actually discover Pluto, but he knew it existed.

That still leaves us with the initials PL and his name is the same as a character in a Tex game (and book). You might have to play with the initials a bit to discover his identity.

Percival Lowell. Any more hidden name meanings?

Nice going, BJ! Actually, the guy's name was Lowell Percival and that was the answer to the Jeopardy question.

I know in game it's Lowell Percival, but my source had it as Percival Lowell.

(Hightlight to the right for UAKM book spoiler) The UAKM book shows a possibility of that character still being alive.

Very interesting! I always thought that was a cool name anyway.

Jim the old guy wrote:Nice going, BJ! Actually, the guy's name was Lowell Percival and that was the answer to the Jeopardy question.

Actually, with it being Jeopardy, wouldn't the answer be "Who Is Lowell Percival?"...

Jim et al,

The following is not an urban legends - I heard it from the lead astronomer of the New York Academy of Natural Sciences who was part of the team that demoted Pluto from its full "planet" status. Two state legislatures have passed laws declaring that Pluto remains a planet despite anything any astronomers say. One is Arizona, where Clyde Tombaugh lived when he announced his discovery of Pluto. The other is California. Why California? It's all about the pup. When the team of astronomers announced their downgrading of Pluto, they caught huge amounts of flak from the public, not because anyone could rebut any of their scientific claims but because America is still so invested in the classic Disney characters like Pluto Pup. And California is where the Disney empire arose and it is still the home of DIsneyland.

Good ol' Harry; stops by every once and a while and sets matters straight. Thanks for the info, ol' buddy! Much appreciated.