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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. ==Biography== Percival Lowell was a member of the wealthy Boston, Massachusetts, Lowell family. He was born in Cambridge on March 13, 1855, the brother of Abbott Lawrence Lowell and Amy Lowell.〔 Percival graduated from the Noble and Greenough School in 1872 and Harvard University in 1876 with distinction in mathematics.〔 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.〔Balik, Rachel (March 13, 2010) (Happy Birthday Percival Lowell, First Man to Imagine Life on Mars ). findingdulcinea.com〕 After graduation he ran a cotton mill for six years.〔 In the 1880s, Lowell traveled extensively in the Far East. In August 1883, he served as a foreign secretary and counsellor for a special Korean diplomatic mission to the United States. He lived there for about two months.〔 He also spent significant periods of time in Japan, writing books on Japanese religion, psychology, and behavior. His texts are filled with observations and academic discussions of various aspects of Japanese life, including language, religious practices, economics, travel in Japan, and the development of personality. Books by Percival Lowell on the Orient include ''Noto: An Unexplored Corner of Japan'' (1891) and ''Occult Japan, or the Way of the Gods'' (1894), the latter from his third and final trip to the region. His time in Korea inspired ''Chosön: The Land of the Morning Calm, ''〔 (1886, Boston). The most popular of Lowell's books on the Orient, ''The Soul of the Far East'' (1888), contains an early synthesis of some of his ideas, that in essence, postulated that human progress is a function of the qualities of individuality and imagination. Another of his books is ''The Eve of the French Revolution'' (1892). He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1892.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterL.pdf )〕 He moved back to the United States in 1893.〔 Beginning in the winter of 1893–94, using his wealth and influence, Lowell dedicated himself to the study of astronomy, founding the observatory which bears his name.〔 For the last 23 years of his life astronomy, Lowell Observatory, and his and others' work at his observatory were the focal points of his life. World War I very much saddened Lowell, a dedicated pacifist. This, along with some setbacks in his astronomical work (described below), undermined his health and contributed to his death from a stroke on November 12, 1916, aged 61.〔Croswell, Kenneth (1997) ''Planet Quest: The Epic Discovery of Alien Solar Systems''. p. 49. ISBN 0684832526.〕 Lowell is buried on Mars Hill near his observatory. He was an agnostic. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Percival Lowell」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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