Roger Putnam - Role in Discovering Pluto

Role in Discovering Pluto

Through his uncle, Percival Lowell, and his own father, Roger Putnam gained a love of astronomy and was an amateur astronomer for most of his life.

Percival Lowell died in 1916. He named Harcourt Amory (his cousin, college roommate and best friend) and his wife, Constance Lowell, executors of his estate. Although Constance Lowell received a $150,000 lump-sum payment, a generous yearly income, and her husband's personal property (including their opulent Boston home), the Lowell Observatory received the bulk of Lowell's money. Amory, meanwhile, was also named the sole trustee of the Lowell Observatory. Constance Lowell felt the will was unfair and went to court to break it. After convincing Amory to resign as trustee, Constance Lowell also induced George Putnam (Roger's older brother) to decline the position. Constance Lowell then named Guy Lowell, Percival Lowell's third cousin, as trustee—believing she could dominate him. But Guy Lowell fought Constance's attempt to break the will. The lawsuit was settled in Guy Lowell's favor in 1925, but not before the estate had spent more than half its $2.3 million trust fund.

The lawsuit left the observatory with few funds for research or for the purchase of new equipment. Guy Lowell died in 1927, and the trusteeship of Lowell Observatory passed to Roger Putnam.

Percival Lowell had predicted the existence of a "Planet X"—a possible ninth planet—in 1905, but his subsequent death in 1916 and Constance Lowell's lawsuit had largely mothballed the search for the celestial body. Putnam, however, was determined to find "Planet X." Spending several months a year at the Lowell Observatory, Putnam resolved to build a new 13-inch (330 mm) refracting telescope and astrograph at the Observatory to revive the search. The reluctant staff hesitated to spend the Observatory's limited funds on the new telescope until Putnam forced the issue. To fund construction, Putnam persuaded his uncle, Abbott Lawrence Lowell, to provide $10,000 for the new telescope. To save money, Putnam ordered the mounting to be built on-site in the observatory workshop rather than by a contractor. Observatory Director V.M. Slipher designed the telescope. When one of the lens components was ground too thin, a new component had to be built. Putnam paid the $6,000 replacement cost out of his own funds.

The new 13-inch (330 mm) telescope was used by Clyde Tombaugh in the search for "Planet X." On February 18, 1930, Tombaugh discovered a new planet—which was named Pluto on May 1.

Putnam's political and business interests lessened the amount of time he could devote to the Lowell Observatory in the 1930s and 1940s. The Observatory's three senior astronomers—V.M. Slipher, E.C. Slipher and C.O. Lampland—were no longer doing much research or publishing and prevented other, younger astronomers from using the telescopes. Lampland died on December 14, 1951, and Putnam decided to use the occasion to bring in some new blood. Putnam hired Albert Wilson, a Caltech astronomer who had led the Palomar Sky Survey. Although Wilson clashed with Observatory personnel and resigned after only two years on the job, with Putnam's support he greatly modernized the Observatory's procedures, policies, and equipment. Most importantly, he instituted a mandatory retirement age of 70 and resilvered the Observatory's 42-inch (1,100 mm) Ritchey-Chretien telescope (now named the John Hall Telescope). When Wilson came under attack for laying off photoelectric research staff, Putnam publicly reaffirmed his confidence in him.

As Putnam searched for a new director, he almost put the Lowell Observatory under the control of Harvard University. Donald Menzel, director of the Harvard Observatory, offered to move Harvard's 61-inch (1.5 m) telescope to the Lowell Observatory in exchange for naming the next director. Putnam was initially receptive to the idea, but after consulting with several young astronomers (most notably Harold Johnson), Putnam decided against a collaboration with Harvard.

Determined to continue the modernization program begun by Wilson, Putnam hired astronomer John Scoville Hall as director in 1958. Hall took advantage of the launch of Sputnik 1 in October 1957 and the ensuing Sputnik crisis in the United States to seek greatly increased federal funding for the Observatory. Putnam used his extensive political connections to help Hall land lucrative federal contracts, which significantly improved the Observatory's finances. Hall also hired energetic, bright young astronomers and rebuilt the Observatory's reputation as a research institution.

In 1961, Putnam managed to make an indirect contribution to the study of Mars. E.C. Slipher had taken an enormous number of photographs of Mars, but most of them remained unseen by others. Determined to restore the Observatory's prestige, Putnam badgered Slipher into making these images available. In 1962, Slipher's monumental work, A Photographic History of Mars (1905-1961), was published, marking a major advance in the planetary science of Mars.

Putnam also played a major role in securing a new 42-inch (1,100 mm) telescope for the Observatory in 1961. Ohio Wesleyan University's Perkins Observatory in Delaware, Ohio, had a 42-inch (1,100 mm) cassegrain reflector telescope which was under-utilized due to poor viewing conditions and low elevation. Putnam led the negotiations which permanently moved the 42-inch (1,100 mm) telescope to Lowell Observatory's Anderson Mesa site (in Arizona). The telescope was operated by Lowell Observatory in partnership with the Ohio State University and Ohio Wesleyan, and purchased by Lowell in 1998.

Putnam brought Perkins's 69-inch (1.8 m) telescope to the Arizona observatory as well. The Observatory's existing 69-inch (1.8 m) telescope had cracked in 1964 while staff attempted to update its optical system. The Perkins mirror did not stay at Lowell for long, returning to Perkins' control in 1969. The Lowell Observatory retained the mount, however. Hall won Putnam's approval to rebuild the mount as a 72-inch (1.8 m) telescope, and a new, improved Zerodur mirror built and installed (it is still called the "Perkins telescope," however).

One of Putnam's last major contributions as trustee was the establishment of the Lowell Observatory's Planetary Research Center. In 1961, Putnam convinced NASA officials to fund a major planetary research initiative at the Lowell Observatory. In 1965, NASA agreed to build the Planetary Research Center at Lowell to house the rapidly growing project.

Roger Putnam retired as trustee of the Lowell Observatory in 1967. His youngest son, the classicist Dr. Michael C. J. Putnam, succeeded him.