Earl Charles Slipher was an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
astronomerAn astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
. He was the brother of astronomer
Vesto SlipherVesto Melvin Slipher was an American astronomer. His brother Earl C. Slipher was also an astronomer and a director at the Lowell Observatory....
.
Slipher was born in
Mulberry, IndianaMulberry is a town in Madison Township, Clinton County, Indiana, United States. The population was 1,254 at the 2010 census. The town was named for a mulberry tree which grew at the point where it was founded.-History:...
. He first joined
Lowell ObservatoryLowell Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. Lowell Observatory was established in 1894, placing it among the oldest observatories in the United States, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965....
in 1908 and became a noted planetary astronomer, concentrating on
MarsMars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
. He published
Photographic History of Mars (1905-1961). In 1957, he appeared in the "
Mars and BeyondMars and Beyond is an episode of Disneyland which aired on December 4, 1957. It was directed by Ward Kimball and narrated by Paul Frees. This episode discusses the possibility of life on other planets, especially Mars. It begins with an introduction of Walt Disney and his robot friend Garco, who...
" episode of
Disneyland discussing the possibility of life on Mars.
He also served as mayor of
Flagstaff, ArizonaFlagstaff is a city located in northern Arizona, in the southwestern United States. In 2010, the city's population was 65,870. The population of the Metropolitan Statistical Area was at 134,421 in 2010. It is the county seat of Coconino County...
from 1918 to 1920, and later as a member of the
ArizonaArizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
state legislature until 1933.
The crater
SlipherSlipher is a lunar impact crater that is located in the northern latitudes on the far side of the Moon. The crater overlies the southwestern outer rim of the much larger walled plain D'Alembert, and it occupies a portion of the interior floor of D'Alembert...
on the
MoonThe Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
is named after Earl and Vesto Slipher, as is asteroid
1766 Slipher1766 Slipher is the name of an asteroid which was discovered at Goethe Link Observatory near Brooklyn, Indiana by the Indiana Asteroid Program. It is named for Vesto Melvin Slipher....
, discovered September 7, 1962, by the
Indiana Asteroid ProgramThe Indiana Asteroid Program was a program of photographic asteroid observations made with a 10-inch f/6.5 Cooke triplet astrographic camera at Goethe Link Observatory near Brooklyn, Indiana. The program was initiated by Frank K. Edmondson of Indiana University in 1949 and continued until 1967...
.
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