Abstract
The recent measurements of Pluto's apparent angular diameter by G. P. Kuiper1 have revived astronomers' curiosity regarding the problems associated with this most distant known planet. Two such problems concern the discovery and the mass of Pluto. Unfortunately, most modern accounts2 of the discovery of Pluto or of the determination of its mass do not mention the fundamental contributions to these subjects published in France in 1941 by Dr. V. Kourganoff. The purpose of this article is to make KourganofFs work more widely known, and to summarize the simpler and more fundamental aspects of his analysis. For its many ramifications, the reader is referred to the original work. What follows is partially a digest of KourganofFs memoir, La part de la Mechanique celeste dans la decouverte de Pluton, 1941, 8 and partially a liberal translation of portions of his summary in Ciel et Terre, Nouvelles donnees sur l'histoire de la decouverte de Pluton, 1944.4
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