I guess they just took it for granted that that was what I was interested in and let nature take its course.

Tombaugh (1906–1997)".

Although he is best known for discovering the dwarf planet Pluto in 1930 the first object to be discovered in what would later be identified as the Kuiper belt Tombaugh also discovered many asteroids; he also called for the serious scientific research of unidentified flying objects.