A Mountain Resort and Lowe Observatory
A great engineering feat was underway in southern California at the same time that Swift’s astronomical life was being turned upside down. This was the construction of a resort not far from Pasadena. The person financing this grand vision was Thaddeus Sob
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A Mountain Resort and Lowe Observatory
A great engineering feat was underway in southern California at the same time that Swift’s astronomical life was being turned upside down. This was the construction of a resort not far from Pasadena. The person financing this grand vision was Thaddeus Sobieski Constantin Lowe (Fig. 10.9). Lowe had distinguished himself in many ways prior to this venture. Born in 1832, he showed a strong interest in science, first studying chemistry and next becoming interested in the upper atmosphere, which led to ballooning. According to a 1910 book written by George Wharton James: … he learned the properties of gas and saw how a balloon could be best constructed and filled, and, no sooner was his vivid imagination stirred by visions of ascending into the upper atmosphere and studying the conditions he found there, than he proceeded to the construction of a balloon.1
One of the things Lowe came to believe was that “there existed a steady upper air current that invariably moved eastward, no matter how diverse, opposite, or complex the wind movements on the earth’s surface might be.”2 Lowe even proved this. In 1861, he traveled to Cincinnati, Ohio, and waited many days for a strong westward wind. Such a wind came on the morning of April 20, and he then ascended in his balloon. Although he initially traveled westward, once he gained enough altitude, the balloon did move eastward, and he finally brought it down on the coast of South Carolina, near Union.3 Lowe came up with an intriguing idea as the Civil War broke out: use scout balloons “to reconnoiter the position of the enemy.” A. R. Bond wrote the following in 1919: These balloons were to be connected by telegraph wires with the ground, so that they could direct the artillery fire. The idea was so novel to the military authorities of that day that it was not received in favor. Balloons were looked upon as freak inventions, entirely
G. W. James, Heroes of California (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1910), p. 420. G. W. James, Heroes of California (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1910), p. 421. 3 “Semi-Centennial Meet to Commemorate Prof. Lowe’s Trip,” Aeronautics, 5 (1909 Dec.), p. 220. 1 2
© Springer International Publishing AG 2017 G.W. Kronk, Lewis Swift, Historical & Cultural Astronomy, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-63721-1_10
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10 A Mountain Resort and Lowe Observatory
Fig. 10.9 This drawing of Lowe appeared in the Los Angeles Herald in 1893
i mpracticable for the stern realities of war; and as for telegraphing from a balloon, no one had ever done that before.4
Lowe ended up making an appeal directly to President Abraham Lincoln. He even proved its feasibility on the grounds of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D. C. Bond said Lincoln came out on the lawn south of the White House to watch the demonstration. He continued: In order to test him, Mr. Lincoln took off his hat, waved his handkerchief, and made other signals. Lowe observed each act through his field-glasses and reported it to the President by tel
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