Michael Brown
Michael E. Brown (\"Mike\"; born June 5th, 1965) has been a professor of planetary astronomy at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) since 2003. His team has discovered many trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs), notably the dwarf planet Eris, the only known TNO more massive than Pluto. He has humorously referred to himself as the man who killed Pluto, because he furthered Pluto being downgraded to a dwarf planet in the aftermath of the discovery of Eris and several other trans-Neptunian dwarf-planet candidates. He is also the author of How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming, published in 2010.
Particularly notable are Eris, a dwarf planet and the only TNO discovered that is more massive than Pluto, leading directly to Pluto\'s demotion from planet status; 90377 Sedna, a planetoid thought to be the first observed body belonging to the inner ĂpikâOort cloud; and 90482 Orcus.
Brown\'s team famously named Eris and its moon Dysnomia with the informal names Xena and Gabrielle, respectively, after the two main characters of Xena: Warrior Princess.
