Percival Lowell

1 8.1

An American astronomer who studied Mars and started the search that led to finding Pluto

proper noun
/ˈpɜrsɪvəl ˈloʊəl/

: Percival Lowell

Did Percival Lowell predict Pluto?

Examples

The discovery of Pluto is often credited to the search initiated by Percival Lowell.
The United States astronomer Percival Lowell dedicated his life to the study of Mars.
Percival Lowell founded the Lowell Observatory in Arizona, which played a major role in planetary astronomy.
Many of Percival Lowell's theories about life on Mars were later disproved, but they inspired generations of scientists.
The famous astronomer Percival Lowell studied Mars.
In his quest to find planets beyond Neptune, Percival Lowell famously predicted the existence of Pluto.
Many of the theories proposed by Percival Lowell about Mars sparked public interest in the possibility of life on other planets.

Surface Forms

Percival Lowell main

Morphology

Percival + Lowell

This is a proper name referring to a specific historical person; the meaning (an astronomer who predicted Pluto) is not derivable from the constituent names. Personal names are arbitrary labels and do not compose semantically in the way lexical items do, so a B1 learner knowing the parts would not infer the biographical information without prior exposure.

Etymology

Percival Lowell was an American astronomer who built the Lowell Observatory in Arizona and famously thought he saw 'canals' on 'Mars'. He also began the long search that led to the discovery of 'Pluto', so his name often brings to mind studies of Mars and the search for new planets.