Description
Percival Lowell was born in 1855 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, into a distinguished New England family. His brother, Abbott Lawrence Lowell (1856–1943), was president of Harvard University; his sister, Amy Lowell (1874–1925), an important poet and critic. Lowell studied mathematics at Harvard and, after graduation, spent six years in business, managing a family-owned cotton mill. In the spring of 1883, he made his first trip to Japan. In August of that year, he was asked by the United States Legation in Tokyo to serve as secretary and counselor to ...