Percival Lowell
Asteroids discovered: 1
Designator (name): 793 Arizona
Discovery Date: April 9, 1907

Percival Lowell (March 13, 1855 – November 12, 1916) was an author, mathematician, and esteemed astronomer who fueled speculation that there were canals on Mars, founded the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, and formed the beginning of the work and theories that led to the discovery of Pluto 14 years after his death. Image File history File links Percival-Lowell. ... Image File history File links Percival-Lowell. ... 253 Mathilde, a C-type asteroid. ... 793 Arizona 793 Arizona is a minor planet orbiting Sun. ... April 9 is the 99th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (100th in leap years). ... 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... March 13 is the 72nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (73rd in leap years). ... 1855 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... November 12 is the 316th day of the year (317th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 49 days remaining. ... 1916 (MCMXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... An astronomer or astrophysicist is a person whose area of interest is astronomy or astrophysics. ... For a time in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was believed that there were canals on Mars. ... Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the solar system, named after the Roman god of war (the counterpart of the Greek Ares), on account of its blood red color as viewed in the night sky. ... Lowell Observatory Percival observing Mars from the Clark telescope at the Lowell Observatory. ... Nickname: City of Seven Wonders Location Location in Coconino County the state of Arizona Coordinates , Government Country State County United States Arizona Coconino County Mayor Joseph C. Donaldson Geographical characteristics Area     City 63. ... Official language(s) English Capital Phoenix Largest city Phoenix Area  Ranked 6th  - Total 113,998 sq mi (295,254 km²)  - Width 310 miles (500 km)  - Length 400 miles (645 km)  - % water 0. ... Adjective Plutonian Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 0. ...

Biography

Lowell's mausoleum is in the grounds of his observatory.

Percival Lowell, who was a descendant of the distinguished Boston Lowell family, was the brother of A. Lawrence, president of Harvard University, and Amy, a well-known Imagist poet and critic. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2190x2070, 740 KB)Percival Lowell mausoleum at Lowell Observatory. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2190x2070, 740 KB)Percival Lowell mausoleum at Lowell Observatory. ... St. ... Nickname: City on the Hill, Beantown, The Hub of the Universe (The State House, according to Oliver Wendell Holmes, is the hub of the Solar System), Athens of America, The Cradle of Revolution Location in Massachusetts, USA Counties Suffolk County Mayor Thomas M. Menino(D) Area    - City 232. ... The Lowell family was founded in America by Percival Lowle (1571–1664); his grown sons John (1595–1647) and Richard (1602–82); and his daughter, Joanna Oliver (1609–77), when their families sailed from England to the newly established settlement of Newburyport on the north shore of the Merrimack... Abbott Lawrence Lowell, portrait by John Singer Sargent U.S. educator, historian, and President of Harvard University (1909–33), Abbott Lawrence Lowell (January 1, 1856–January 6, 1943) was born to Augustus Lowell and his wife Katherine Bigelow Lowell at the families 10 acre estate in Brookline, MA. The Lowell... Harvard University (incorporated as The President and Fellows of Harvard College) is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ... Amy Lowell Amy Lawrence Lowell (February 9, 1874 – May 12, 1925) was an American poet of the imagist school who posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1926. ... Ezra Pound, one of the prime movers of Imagism. ...

Percival graduated from Harvard University in 1876 with distinction in mathematics, and traveled extensively through the Far East before deciding to study Mars and astronomy as a full-time career. He was particularly interested in the supposed canals of Mars, as drawn by Giovanni Schiaparelli, who was director of the Milan Observatory and an esteemed Italian astronomer. Harvard University (incorporated as The President and Fellows of Harvard College) is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ... 1876 (MDCCCLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... The far east as a cultural block includes East Asia, Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia and South Asia. ... For a time in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was believed that there were canals on Mars. ... Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli (March 14, 1835 – July 4, 1910) was an Italian astronomer. ...

Lowell was also interested in the Orient, especially Korea and Japan. In the 1880s he traveled extensively in East Asia. Starting in August of 1883 he served as a foreign secretary and counsellor for a special Korean diplomatic mission to the United States. He also spent significant periods of time in Japan, writing books on Japanese religion, psychology, and behavior. His texts are filled with observations and academic discussions of various aspects of Japanese life, including language, religious practices, economics, travel in Japan, and the development of personality. Books by Percival Lowell on the Orient include Noto (1891) and Occult Japan (1894); the latter from his third and final trip to the region. The most popular of Lowell's books on the Orient, The Soul of the Far East, (1888) contains an early synthesis of some of his ideas, that in essence, postulated that human progress is a function of the qualities of individuality and imagination. Beginning in the winter of 1893-94 and for the last 22 years of his life -- astronomy, Lowell Observatory, and his and others' work at his observatory were the focal points of Percival Lowell's life. Korea (Korean: 한국 or 조선, see below) is a geographic area, civilization, and former state situated on the Korean Peninsula in East Asia. ...

Astronomy career

In 1894 he moved to Flagstaff, Arizona. At an altitude of over 7000 feet, and with few cloudy nights, it was an excellent site for astronomical observations. For the next fifteen years he studied Mars extensively, and made intricate drawings of the surface markings as he perceived them. Lowell published his views in three books: Mars (1895), Mars and Its Canals (1906), and Mars As the Abode of Life (1908). He thereby instigated the long-held belief that Mars had once sustained intelligent life forms. 1894 (MDCCCXCIV) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Nickname: City of Seven Wonders Location Location in Coconino County the state of Arizona Coordinates , Government Country State County United States Arizona Coconino County Mayor Joseph C. Donaldson Geographical characteristics Area     City 63. ...

His works include a detailed description of what he termed the 'non-natural features' of the planet's surface, including especially a full account of the 'canals,' single and double; the 'oases,' as he termed the dark spots at their intersections; and the varying visibility of both, depending partly on the Martian seasons. He upheld the theory that the canals had been constructed for the purpose of 'husbanding' Mars's scanty water-supply.

Lowell's greatest contribution to planetary studies came during the last 8 years of his life, which he devoted to the search for Planet X, which was the designation for a planet beyond Neptune. The search continued for a number of years after his death at Flagstaff in 1916; the planet, named Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930. The symbol for the planet is a stylized "PL" (♇), chosen in part to honor Lowell. Planet X is a large hypothetical planet orbiting beyond the orbit of Neptune. ... Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 0. ... An image of Clyde Tombaugh Clyde William Tombaugh (February 4, 1906 – January 17, 1997) was an American astronomer who discovered the dwarf planet Pluto in 1930. ... 1930 (MCMXXX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link is to a full 1930 calendar). ...

It is interesting to note that predictions of a planet beyond Neptune were based on discrepancies between the predicted and observed positions of Neptune and Uranus, and the erroneous assumption that such discrepancies were caused by the gravitational influence of an unknown planet. In fact, the discrepancies were due to erroneous values for the masses of Neptune and Uranus; with modern precise values, the discrepancies disappear, and in any case it is now known that the mass of Pluto is far too small to exert so appreciable a gravitational influence as to disturb the orbits of other planets to a degree we can observe and measure. Atmospheric characteristics Surface pressure ≫100 MPa Hydrogen - H2 80% ±3. ... Atmospheric characteristics Atmospheric pressure 120 kPa Hydrogen 83% Helium 15% Methane 1. ...

External links

• Works by Percival Lowell at Project Gutenberg
• Lowell Observatory
• Google Mars

Project Gutenberg (often abbreviated as PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize, archive, and distribute cultural works. ...

References

• Zahnel K. (2001). "Decline and Fall of the Martian Empire". Nature 412: 209-213. DOI:10.1038/35084148.
• Crossley R. (2000). "Percival Lowell and the history of Mars". Massachusetts Review 41: 297-318.
• Strauss D. (1994). "Lowell, Percival, Pickering, W.H. and the founding of the Lowell Observertory". Annals of Science 51 (1): 37-58.
• Trefil J. (1988). "Turn-of-the-Century American Astronomer Lowell, Percival". Smithsonian 18 (10): 34-.
• Meyer W. B. (1984). "Life on Mars is almost Certain + Lowell,Percival on Exobiology". American Heritage 35 (2): 38-43.
• Hetherington N. S. (1981). "Lowell, Percival - Professional Scientist or Interloper". Journal of the History of Ideas 42 (1): 159-161.
• Heffernan W. C. (1981). "Lowell, Percival and the Debate over Extraterrestrial Life". Journal of the History of Ideas 42 (3): 527-530.
• Webb G. E. (1980). "The Planet Mars and Science in Victorian America". Journal of American Culture 3 (4): 573. DOI:10.1111/j.1542-734X.1980.0304_573.x.
• Hoyt W. G., Wesley W. G. (1977). "Lowell and Mars". American Journal of Physics 45 (3): 316-317. DOI:10.1119/1.10630.
• Hofling C. K. (1964). "Percival Lowell and the Canals of Mars". British Jouornal of Medical Psychology 37 (1): 33-42.