18-10-2008 Great astronomers: Percival Lowell (Article 159)

Moderator: SAC Committee

Post Reply
Simon Kenny
Posts: 527
Joined: Tue Feb 12, 2008 9:17 pm
Location: Shannon, Co. Clare, Ireland

18-10-2008 Great astronomers: Percival Lowell (Article 159)

Post by Simon Kenny » Tue Dec 30, 2008 8:41 pm

Great astronomers: Percival Lowell (Article 159)

Percival Lowell is certainly one of the most famous American astronomers, mainly due to his studies of the planet Mars, and his firm belief that an advanced civilisation once existed there.

Born to a wealthy and influential Boston family in 1855, Lowell received distinction in mathematics at Harvard University. In his early career he fulfilled diplomatic roles in the Far East, notably Japan and Korea. He was fascinated with Japan and published a number of detailed studies on aspects of Japanese life and culture in the 1880s and 1890s.

In the 1890s his attention turned to the study of astronomy. The works of contemporary European astronomers, Flammarion and Schiaparelli convinced him to focus his career on the study Mars. Schiaparelli had observed what he thought were ‘canali’ on the surface of the planet. The Italian word translates as ‘channel’ or ‘watercourse’, but does not specifically mean ‘canal’, an artificial watercourse. Major canal projects were attempted at this time. The Suez Canal was recently opened and the Panama Canal was under construction. Canals were associated with state of the art engineering. Schiaparelli doesn’t seem to have clarified what he meant by ‘canali’, but a tantalising possibility that these are evidence of an advanced Martian civilization later took hold in the popular imagination. The possibility fascinated Lowell and in 1894 he built an advanced observatory near Flagstaff, Arizona, at about 2000 meters altitude, to ensure good, steady viewing of the delicate patterns on Mars’ surface. In his 15 years of study he produced several maps of its surface, detailing surface features that included a complex pattern of dark lines linked to circular nodes scattered across the planet’s surface. In three books he published between 1895 and 1908, he postulated that as the climate on Mars became dry the channels were built by an advanced civilisation to redistribute the water in the polar ice caps to inhabited parts of the planet. However, many were sceptical, notably his fellow American astronomers Edward Barnard and William Pickering. We now know that Mars is a very different place to what Lowell thought he saw in the wispy images in his eyepiece. It shows how a powerful imagination can obscure objective scientific observation and analysis, leading to a lot of wasted effort.

Some of Lowell’s best work was in determining the cause of the apparent anomalies in the motions of the outer planets Uranus and Neptune. Lowell spent his time trying to discover the cause until his death in 1916. He proposed that the anomalies were due to a large undiscovered planet orbiting beyond Neptune. After detailed searches for his elusive ‘Planet X’ he failed to identify it. In fact he had photographed it, twice, but didn’t recognise its significance. Fourteen years after his death, in Lowell’s own observatory, it was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh. Percival Lowell’s work was honoured by having his initials in the new planet’s name, Pluto.

Post Reply