Percival Lowell
Percival Lowell (/ˈloʊəl/; March 13, 1855 – November 12, 1916) was an American businessman, author, mathematician, and astronomer who fueled speculation that there were canals on Mars, and furthered theories of a ninth planet within the Solar System. He founded the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, and formed the beginning of the effort that led to the discovery of Pluto 14 years after his death.
Percival Lowell
March 13, 1855
November 12, 1916 (aged 61)
Mars Hill, Lowell Observatory
American
Martian canals
Asteroids discovered: 793 Arizona (April 9, 1907)
Life and career[edit]
Early life and work[edit]
Percival Lowell was born on March 13, 1855,[1][2][3] in Boston, Massachusetts, the first son of Augustus Lowell and Katherine Bigelow Lowell. A member of the Brahmin Lowell family, his siblings included the poet Amy Lowell, the educator and legal scholar Abbott Lawrence Lowell, and Elizabeth Lowell Putnam, an early activist for prenatal care. They were the great-grandchildren of John Lowell and, on their mother's side, the grandchildren of Abbott Lawrence.[4][3][5]
Percival graduated from the Noble and Greenough School in 1872 and Harvard College in 1876 with distinction in mathematics.[5] While at Harvard he joined Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. At his college graduation, he gave a speech, considered very advanced for its time, on the nebular hypothesis. He was later awarded honorary degrees from Amherst College and Clark University.[6] After graduation he ran a cotton mill for six years.[3]
Homans, James E., ed. (1918). . The Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: The Press Association Compilers, Inc.
"Lowell, Percival"
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