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Percival Lowell

Page history last edited by Tim Weaks 15 years, 5 months ago

     "Man is but a detail in the evolution of the universe; resemblant though diverse details are inevitably to be expected in the host of orbs around him...He is destined to discover any number of cousins scattered through space."  -Percival Lowell

 

     Born in 1855, Percival Lowell was a wealthy Harvard-educated businessman and Orientalist who spent time in Japan prior to returning to the United States, where he was the primary founder, funder, director, publicist, chief observer, and theoretician of the Lowell Observatory. Constructed in Flagstaff, Arizona in 1894. A 24-inch aperture refracting telescope was built for the observatory, which made it the largest at the time.  Lowell's move to build it was seen by some as brilliant and charming, while others saw it as "intensely egoistic and unreasonable".  None the less, it was a splendid telescope unlike any other at the time.  In his studies, Lowell was aided by fellow Harvard astronomers A.E. Douglass and W.H. Pickering.  The main objective of the observatory was the investigation into conditions of life in other worlds.  In Lowell's opinion, at the time, "There is strong reason to believe that we are on the eve of pretty definite discovery in the matter."

 

     In Lowell's book, entitled Mars, he looked in great depth at the planet and reported observing 183 canals with vegetation running along their sides. He also discovered Martian "oases" at the intersections of the canals. He found "unmistakable signs" of the planet being old, included the continents being all smoothed down and the oceans all dried up.  There were snowy polar caps existent as well.  It was clear to Lowell that Mars was a world much older than the Earth, but still it was "one of the most peacable of the heavenly host".  It's broad, physical conditions were not antagonistic to some form of life.

 

     In regards to life on Mars, Lowell found that the Martians living there had to be super-engineers desperately trying to irrigate their dying planet.  Not only were they relatively older than us, but they were significantly older than us.  The system of canals and other evidence of handicraft pointed to highly intelligent minds behind them.  These minds have created inventions that we have not dreamed.  For these Martians, electrophones and kinoteoscopes are things of the bygone past, "preserved with veneration in museums of relics of the clumsy contrivances".  Not only are they more intelligent, but these other organisms have been evolved of which we have no cognizance.  We lack even the data to conceive just how different these beings are from us.

     

     The difference in the amount of gravity present on Mars is also significant in Lowell's mind.  He provides an analogy supposing a Martian to be 3x as large as a human being in every dimension.  On Earth, this being would weigh 27x as much while on Mars, they would weigh 9x as much.  Therefore, since on the surface of Mars there is a little more than 1/3 of gravity that at the surface of the Earth, a Martian would be, physically, fifty-fold more efficient than man.  In other words, a Martian wouldn't have to work nearly as hard as a human being in order to do any amount of work.  It wouldn't even be close. 

 

     Even though Lowell's book was extremely popular at the time, it was also highly controversial.  According to W.W. Campbell, Lowell took "the popular side of the most popular scientific question afloat."  He goes on, "The world at large is anxious for the discovery of intelligent life on Mars, and every advocate gets an instant and large audience."  Campbell also criticized Lowell's lack of experience in the field, saying that he possessed "neither adequate observations nor mastery of the Mars literature.  Mr. Lowell went direct from the lecture hall to his observatory in Arizona, and how well his observations established his pre-observational views is told in his book." He lamented that this was the practice of an author who "has written vigorously...of the dangers of bias [from] preconceived notions".

 

     In conclusion, Lowell created a breakthrough in the field of astronomy with his brand new Lowell Observatory and presented new ideas regarding life on Mars and what he was able to discover through his spectacular telescope.  He was controversial but presented an engaging style and exciting claims.

 

 

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