Percival Lawrence Lowell (1855-1916) was a businessman, author, mathematician, and astronomer who fueled speculation that there were canals on Mars, founded the Lowell Observatory and formed the beginning of the effort that led to the discovery of Pluto 14 years after his death. Percival graduated from Harvard University in 1876 with distinction in mathematics. In 1883, he served as a foreign secretary and counsellor for a special Korean diplomatic mission to the United States. He also spent significant periods of time in Japan, writing books on Japanese religion, psychology, and behavior. His texts are filled with observations and academic discussions of various aspects of Japanese life. Books by Percival Lowell on the Orient include Noto: An Unexplained Corner of Japan (1891) and Occult Japan (1894). The most popular of Lowell's books on the Orient, The Soul of the Far East (1888) contains an early synthesis of some of his ideas, that in essence, postulated that human progress is a function of the qualities of individuality and imagination. Amongst his other books are Mars (1895) and The Genesis of the Planets (1916).