FLAGSTAFF – The northern Arizona observatory where Pluto was discovered has a new director.
Eileen Friel will become the 10th director of the Lowell Observatory when Bob Millis steps down on June 15.
Friel currently is the executive officer for the Division of Astronomical Sciences at the National Science Foundation. She says she’s looking forward to her new job at what she calls a first-rate research center.
She says Lowell Observatory produces fascinating science and has done a superb job explaining that work to the residents of northern Arizona.
The private, nonprofit observatory was founded in 1894. Pluto was discovered by astronomer Clyde Tombaugh in 1930 while he was working at the observatory.