Percival Lawrence Lowell (1855 - 1916)

Born 13 Mar 1855 in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Constance Savage (Keith) Lowell — married 10 Jun 1908 in New York City, New York

Died 12 Nov 1916 at age 61 in Flagstaff, Coconino County, Arizona, United States

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Biography

Percival Lowell is Notable.

Percival Lawrence Lowell (March 13, 1855 – November 12, 1916) was an American businessman, author, mathematician, and astronomer who fueled speculation that there were canals on Mars. 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.^[1]

Author, Astronomer, and Mathematician. He is best remembered for his extensive study of the planet Mars and his theory of a hypothetical planet beyond the planet Neptune that was eventually discovered by astronomer Clyde Tombaugh in 1930 and named Pluto.

Percival Lowell was born on 13 March 1855 at his family's home on 131 Tremont Street in Boston, Massachusetts, recorded as the son of Augustus Lowell, a merchant, and his wife Catherine Lowell, who were both also born in Boston.^[2] Theirs was a wealthy family.

Percival graduated in 1872 from the Noble and Green School at Dedham, Massachusetts and four years later from Harvard University at Cambridge, Massachusetts, with a degree in mathematics. He ran a cotton mill for the next six years before serving as a foreign secretary and counsellor to a Korean mission to the US and travelled extensively in the Far East, returning permanently to the US in 1893.

While travelling in the Far East, he authored the books "Chosön: The Land of the Morning Calm" (1886), "The Soul of the Far East" (1888), "Noto: An Unexplored Corner of Japan" (1891), and "Occult Japan" (or "Way of the Gods") (1894).

He then dedicated his life to astronomy and established the Lowell Observatory at Flagstaff, Arizona where he primarily studied the planet Mars and developed his theories on the planet's "canals" that were created by a dying ancient civilization.

He published his views in the books "Mars" (1895), "Mars and Its Canals" (1906), and "Mars As the Abode of Life" (1908). (His "canal" theories were eventually disproven by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Mariner space missions to Mars that took place in the 1960s.)

In 1906 he started a search program for "Planet X" which by his calculations lay beyond the orbit of Neptune. In 1915 his observatory photographed what would eventually turn out to be the new planet Pluto. His theory of life on Mars would greatly influence science fiction novels, including H.G. Wells' "The War of the Worlds" (1898), Edgar Rice Burroughs' "The Gods of Mars" (1918), Robert A. Heinlein's "Red Planet" (1949), and Ray Bradbury's "The Martian Chronicles" (1950).

Percival Lowell married Constance Savage Keith in New York City, New York, on 10 June 1908. He was 53 years old and she was 44; it was the first marriage for both. According to the record, she was born in London, England, a daughter of Beyor Richmond Keith and Emma Chase. Percival was a son of Augustus Lowell and Katharine Bigelow Laurence.^[3] They had no children.

Percival Lowell died suddenly at age 61 on 12 November 1916 in his observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. His death was due to a stroke, also variously described in different accounts as apoplexy or cerebral hemorrhage.^[4] He was interred on the grounds of the Lowell Observatory, and he left the great majority of his estate to Lowell Observatory as an endowment.^[4][5]

Sources

1. ↑ Wikipedia, "Percival Lowell" (accessed 02/25/2016) [1]
2. ↑ "Massachusetts Births, 1841-1915," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-69HQ-PJN?cc=1536925&wc=M61J-LTL%3A75426801 : 1 March 2016), 004341206 > image 83 of 331; Massachusetts Archives, Boston.
3. ↑ "New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1940," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:24HC-XQ2 : 10 February 2018), Pereinal Lonell and Constance Keith, 10 Jun 1908; citing Marriage, Manhattan, New York, New York, United States, New York City Municipal Archives, New York; FHL microfilm 1,439,644.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Agassiz, G. R. "Percival Lowell (1855-1916)." Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Vol. 52, No. 13 (Oct., 1917), pp. 845-847 (3 pages). https://www.jstor.org/stable/20025724
5. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 06 October 2020), memorial page for Percival Lowell (13 Mar 1855–12 Nov 1916), Find A Grave: Memorial #9455, citing Lowell Observatory Grounds, Flagstaff, Coconino County, Arizona, USA ; Maintained by Find A Grave .

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