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The Lowell Observatory astronomer’s

revolutionary findings include the expansion

of the universe and the discovery of the

interstellar medium. BY DAVID J. EICHER

V.M. Sl ipher’s

expanding universe

Indiana youth
Vesto Melvin Slipher was born on a farm
in Mulberry, Indiana, on November 11,

1875. Invariably known as “V.M. Slipher,”
      he had an unspectacular childhood in
      the American Midwest, with few details
      of his youth ever recorded. Certainly
      growing up on a farm kept Slipher in
      robust shape. Many years later, astrono-
      mers remarked on his ability to climb
      mountain peaks, staying well ahead of

those who were much younger. Slipher

had a brother, eight years his junior, Earl

C. Slipher, who would also grow up to

be an astronomer and work at Lowell

Observatory.

But during Slipher’s youth, this was all

a distant future dream. Slipher graduated

from high school, taught brief ly at a coun-

try school, and then enrolled at Indiana

University in Bloomington. One of his

professors was Wilbur Cogshall, who had

worked as an astronomer at Lowell in

1896 and 1897. Another professor was

John Miller, an astronomer who later

became director of Sproul Observatory in

Pennsylvania. It was Miller who turned

Slipher’s interests toward the heavens and

Cogshall who introduced him to the idea

of moving west to work at an observatory.

Called to the West

At the time, Lowell Observatory was a

f ledgling institution less than a decade

old, overseen by its founder, the wealthy

Boston adventurer-scientist Percival

Lowell.

At first, Lowell was reluctant to seek

Slipher’s help, but Cogshall persuaded

him to bring on the young astronomer.

The year was 1901, and as far as Lowell

was concerned, the association would be

temporary. In the end, however, Slipher

would stay at the observatory for 53

years. In 1915, he became assistant direc-

tor, and when Lowell died the following

year, Slipher became acting director and

then director by 1926. He served as the

observatory’s chief until retiring in 1954

at age 79.

EDWIN HUBBLE REVOLUTIONIZED ASTRONOMY IN 1923
when he discovered that the “Andromeda Nebula” was actually a distant island galaxy
full of stars, gas, and dust. That breakthrough helped set the cosmic distance scale
and the overall nature of the cosmos. But fewer astronomy enthusiasts know that a
decade before Hubble’s discovery, a little-known astronomer at Lowell Observatory
in Flagstaff, Arizona, discovered the expanding universe.

This iconic image of V.M. Slipher shows the
astronomer with his famous spectrograph on the
24-inch Clark telescope, with which he discovered
the expanding universe and the interstellar medium.
ALL PHOTOS: LOWELL OBSERVATORY