THE SHOWMAN

Thaddeus Sobieski Constantine Lowe was born in New Hampshire. He assumed the title of “Professor” early in life, after a stint as assistant to a traveling magician who performed tricks with lighter-than-air gases. Lowe first attracted public attention in 1859 by constructing an enormous balloon in which he planned to fly across the Atlantic. He canceled so many launch dates that he became the butt of journalistic ridicule, and he