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'''Percival Lowell''' (1855 - 1916) was a [[Harvard]] educated businessman, writer, and astronomer. He is most well known for writing books speculating that the canals on [[Mars]] were built by intelligent life. Near the end of his life, one of his speculations turned out to be more long lasting. He searched for a 'Planet X' beyond the orbit of [[Neptune]] based on unaccounted for variations in the orbits of Neptune and [[Uranus]]. While it turned it that the orbital variations were due to a lack of understanding of the planets themselves, it did lead to a search among astronomers and [[Pluto]] was found in 1930.
'''Percival Lowell''' (1855 - 1916) was a [[Harvard]] educated businessman, writer, and astronomer. He is most well known for writing books speculating that the canals on [[Mars]] were built by intelligent life. Near the end of his life, one of his speculations turned out to be more long lasting. He searched for a 'Planet X' beyond the orbit of [[Neptune]] based on unaccounted for variations in the orbits of Neptune and [[Uranus]]. While it turned it that the orbital variations were due to a lack of understanding of the planets themselves, it did lead to a search among astronomers and [[Pluto]] was found in 1930.
Lowell is also credited with instigating the theory that intelligent life exists on [[Mars]]. During the early 1900's, while observing Mars from his observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, Lowell noted that there were canal-like features on the martian surface. He attributed these canals to intelligent life, a belief which caused him ridicule in the scientific commnunity.
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[[Category:Astronomers]]
[[Category:Astronomers]]