Astronomer Percival Lowell (1855-1916) was the leader of the 1893 expedition to Mars, and the brain behind its inception. He was, in Lt. Dibbs' words, "a fine commander," until he used the dream machine found at Elysium and had his body taken over by Tekapesh. Prior to this, he had been communicating with Earth using the lens towers to transmit Morse code, and was keeping the construction of a new space cannon on schedule. Lowell proved to know a great deal of the lens towers, and how to make use of them to melt the polar caps, thus restoring water to the Martian canals.