Roger Putnam

Not to be confused with Roger Putnam (British businessman).
Roger Putnam
Putnam in 1952
Born
Roger Lowell Putnam

December 19, 1893
Boston, Massachusetts
DiedNovember 24, 1972(1972-11-24) (aged 78)
Springfield, Massachusetts
Alma materNoble and Greenough School in Boston; Harvard University (1915 degree in math)
Occupations
  • American politician and businessman
  • Mayor of Springfield, Massachusetts, from 1937 until 1943
  • Director of the Economic Stabilization Administration from 1951 until 1952
Known forSole trustee of the Lowell Observatory for 40 years
Board member of
  • Massachusetts Board of Regional Community Colleges (1958)
  • Massachusetts Board of Higher Education (1966)
SpouseCaroline Jenkins
ChildrenCaroline, Roger Jr., William, Anna, Mary, and Michael
ParentWilliam Lowell Putnam II
AwardsHonorary degrees from Boston College (1949), Saint Anselm College (1952), and the University of Massachusetts Lowell (1970)

Roger Lowell Putnam (December 19, 1893 – November 24, 1972) was an American politician and businessman. A member of the prominent Lowell family of Boston, he served as Mayor of Springfield, Massachusetts, from 1937 until 1943, and as director of the Economic Stabilization Administration from 1951 until 1952. During his short tenure in federal office, the nation's steelworkers struck—leading United States President Harry S. Truman to seize the nation's steel mills.

For 40 years, Putnam was also the sole trustee of the Lowell Observatory. During that time, he purchased three new telescopes for the observatory and was instrumental in pushing Lowell astronomers to search for Percival Lowell's theoretical "Planet X"—which led to the discovery of Pluto in 1930.[1][2]

  1. ^ Hoyt, Planets X and Pluto, 1980.
  2. ^ Tenn, "Lowell Observatory Enters the Twentieth Century—In the 1950s," Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage, 2007.