Quarter 3 Biography Percival Lowell

Kenny Smith
Mr. Percival
Pd. 00
2/26/10
Percival Lowell
Percival Lowell was born on March 13th, 1855 in Boston, Massachusetts. He came from a family that produced many famous minds and personalities. He graduated from Harvard University in 1876. Before he decided to pursue a career in astronomy in 1893, he had served in many different fields, including foreign relations and affairs. In 1877, Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli had studied an opposition of Mars and he had found what looked like canals engraved into the Martian surface. These observations intrigued Percival Lowell and led him to start a career in astronomy.
Percival Lowell wanted to have the best viewing conditions possible for his observation of Mars at opposition. He wanted to see if Schiaparelli’s canals really did exist. Lowell conducted research and, with a hint from fellow astronomer W. H. Pickering, decided that Arizona would be the best place for his research. The site that he picked was just west of Flagstaff and was situated at an altitude of seven thousand plus feet. Lowell established the Lowell Observatory in this spot. From 1896-1897 he moved the observatory to a site in Mexico, but he soon realized that Arizona had a better viewing ability. Lowell was able to make what he believed to be clear observations of Mars, but his findings were eventually proven wrong. Percival Lowell’s decision to set up an observatory in an area of excellent seeing ability produced great results and inspired other astronomers to do the same. Nowadays, these types of observatories that are far from the light and smog of cities are by far the majority.
Lowell’s observations of Mars led him to formulate a hypothesis about intelligent life on the planet Mars. Percival Lowell believed that a civilization was trying to survive on a dying Mars. He believed that this alternative life form had built canals that went to the polar caps. Lowell presumed that these caps melted annually. Once the caps started to melt, the canals would fill with water and irrigate the crops that were keeping the civilization alive. Lowell observed dark spots on the Martian surface, which he credited to fertilized crops that he called “oases”. Lowell observed an ongoing darkening from poles to the equator as the seasons advanced from winter. This corresponded with his idea about vegetation and the release of water from the polar caps. Lowell started making drawings of the images he saw in his telescopes and released three books containing his findings. His work was highly criticized by his fellow astronomers but the public latched on to his ideas. Lowell’s ideas were largely discredited and were finally proved wrong when Mariner 4 took the first pictures of the Martian surface in 1965.
After his obsession with Mars, Lowell moved on to other planets. While studying Uranus, he discovered a discrepancy in Uranus’ orbit that is not fully accounted for by the pull of Neptune’s orbit. Therefore, Lowell deduced that a “Planet X” must exist beyond the orbit of Neptune. Lowell continually searched and photographed regions of the sky where he expected the new planet to be located. He died in 1916 before he could find the elusive planet. Then, in 1930, Clyde Tombaugh discovered the mysterious Planet X. This planet was named Pluto and its planetary symbol, a P with the base of an L, is meant to represent not only the first two letters of Pluto, but also Percival Lowell’s initials. Pluto was much fainter and smaller than expected because the discrepancy did not actually exist. The discrepancy was caused by a miscalculation of Neptune’s mass and affected the numbers Lowell used in his calculations.
Lowell also spent time making observations of the other planets in the Solar System, but compared to the time he spent looking for Pluto and observing Mars, these planets did not receive as much attention. Lowell was a daring astronomer who made bold predictions that could have shocked the world. Unfortunately for Lowell, most of his predictions were eventually discredited. If his predictions had come true and if he himself had discovered Pluto, Lowell would most likely be the most famous astronomer to have ever lived. His main legacy is in the realm of observing, for he was the first real pioneer of having good seeing to be able to make accurate observations.
Works Cited:
"Lowell, Percival." Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Vol. 8. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2008. 520-523. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 25 Feb. 2010.
"Lowell, Percival (1855-1916)." The Worlds of David Darling. Web. 25 Feb. 2010. .
"Percival Lowell." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2010. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 25 Feb. 2010 .
"Percival Lowell." Lowell Observatory. Web. 25 Feb. 2010. .