Gonzalo Tancredi
Tancredi in 2022
Born(1963-03-08)March 8, 1963
NationalityUruguayan
Known forOften-cited list of dwarf planets
Scientific career
FieldsAstronomy
InstitutionsLos Molinos Observatory, Full Professor of Astronomy at the University of the Republic

Gonzalo Tancredi (born 8 March 1963) is an Uruguayan astronomer and full professor in the Department of Astronomy at the University of the Republic in Montevideo, Uruguay.[1] He is an active member of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and investigator at Los Molinos Observatory.[2]

His 2010 evaluation of potential dwarf planets[3] was considered by the IAU, though never acted on. The Themistian asteroid 5088 Tancredi has been named after him.[4]

Definition of planet

In 2006, Tancredi was one of a number of dissenters at the IAU's meeting to establish the first definition of "planet." As an alternative to the IAU's draft proposal, which had included Pluto, its moon Charon and Ceres among the planets, Tancredi with his Uruguayan colleague Julio Ángel Fernández proposed a definition where they reserved the term "planet" only for those objects in the Solar System which had cleared their neighbourhoods of planetesimals, describing those objects which had not cleared their orbits yet retained a spherical shape as "planetoids."[5] The IAU's final definition incorporated much of Fernández and Tancredi's proposal, though the objects were christened "dwarf planets."[6]

References

  1. ^ "Gonzalo Tancredi—Departamento de Astronomía". Instituto de Física, Facultad de Ciencias (Universidad de la República). Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  2. ^ "Individual Members—Gonzalo Tancredi". IAU-International Astronomical Union. 20 March 2014. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  3. ^ Tancredi, Gonzalo (2010). "Physical and dynamical characteristics of icy "dwarf planets" (plutoids)". Proceedings IAU Symposium No. 263, 2009. 5 (S263): 173–185. Bibcode:2010IAUS..263..173T. doi:10.1017/S1743921310001717. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  4. ^ Schmadel, Lutz D. (2007). "(5088) Tancredi". Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (5088) Tancredi. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. pp. 437–438. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_4947. ISBN 978-3-540-00238-3.
  5. ^ Britt, Robert Roy (2006-08-18). "Pluto May Get Demoted After All". Space.com. Retrieved 2006-08-24.
  6. ^ "IAU 2006 General Assembly: Resolutions 5 and 6". IAU. 24 August 2006.[permanent dead link]

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