Earl Carl Slipher

Legislative Resolution

View Legislative Resolution File for Earl Carl Slipher

Biographical Information

Sen. Earl C. Slipher resigned July 18, 1933 after the 11th Legislature, 2nd Special Session had ended and his resignation was accepted by Gov. B. B. Moeur on July 18, 1933.  He was replaced by George Hochderffer as Senator for Coconino County.  (Journal of the Senate, 11th Legislature, Impeachment of Charles R. Howe, 1933, pp. 366-367) The following is from the Legislative death resolution:

Arizona lost one of her more illustrious citizens with the death of the Honorable Doctor Slipher, one of the World's foremost authorities on the planet Mars.  Dr. Slipher passed away on August 7, 1964, in the City of Flagstaff.  He was eighty-one years of age.

Dr. Earl Carl Slipher was born in Mulberry, Indiana, on March 25, 1883.

In 1906, Dr, Slipher came to the Lowell Observatory at Flagstaff from the University of Indiana on a Fellowship and remained there as a member of its staff for fifty-eight years.  When Dr. Percival Lowell, who built and permanently financed the Lowell Observatory, died in 1916, his work on the planet Mars was continued by Dr. E. C. Slipher.  He later followed in the footsteps of his brother, Dr. V. M. Slipher, by becoming Director of the Observatory.

Dr. Slipher was a member of Lowell's Andes Expedition to Observe Mars in 1907; a member of Lowell's Eclipse Expedition to Spain in 1908; received the medal of the Society of Astronomy of Mexico in 1911 for his accomplishments; was with the Observatory Eclipse Expedition to Kansas in 1918, and as a member of the International Astronomical Union and as Chairman of the International Mars Commission continued to travel widely, taking part in expeditions to Europe, Africa and Asia.  In South Africa in 1954 at the Lamont-Hussey Observatory in Bloemfontein, he took more than twenty thousand photographic exposures of Mars.  In 1962, he published "The Photographic Story of Mars", a summary of the known history of the planet which was prepared for the Air Force for use in its space program, and early in 1964 his last work, "The Second Photographic Study of Brighter Planets", was published in Flagstaff.

In addition to his dedication to his beloved astronomy, Dr. Slipher also found time to distinguish himself in civic duties.  He served as a Councilman and as Mayor of Flagstaff, as a member of the Arizona State College Board in the 1930's, and served three terms as a member of the State Legislature.

Dr. Slipher was a member of the House of Representatives during the Eighth Legislature, serving on the Standing Committees on Appropriations, Education, Livestock, and Fish and Game, and as Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.  During the Special Session in 1928, he was a member of the State, County and City Affairs and the Education Committees.

During the Ninth Legislature and the Regular Session of the Eleventh Legislature, the Honorable Dr. Slipher was a member of the Senate.  He resigned July 18, 1933, during the First [Second] Special Session of the Eleventh Legislature.  While a member of the Senate, he served as Chairman of the Education, the Enrolling and Engrossing, and the Methods of Business Committees, and was a member of fourteen other Standing Committees.

Employment

Arizona Legislative Service

Sources

Birth: WWI draft card, location: Ancestry New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957: 10/05/1939 Brastagi; Death:  obituary:  "Dr, Slipher Dies." Reno Evening Gazette, Aug. 10, 1964, SSDI: Earl Slipher Aug 1964