![]() ![]() Credit: Frederick Hollyer, Library of the London School of Economics and Political Science So, it was not shocking that when on 2 August 1894 the journal Nature published a short article reporting a strange “bright projection” on the border between light and shadow on the surface of Mars, the anonymous author of the text suggested that the phenomenon revives “the old idea that the Martians are signaling to us.” The British biologist and author of ‘The War of The Worlds’, Herbert George Wells. In the nineteenth century, even reputable scientists were admitting the possibility of life on Mars, imagined as a younger twin of Earth. How could one not imagine that on the other side of space someone would also be watching us? But it was after the invention of the telescope in the seventeenth century that astronomers began to understand that this planet shared much in common with ours, such as polar ice caps, winters and summers, and a physiognomy that could easily be interpreted as a version of Earth toned red, and thus would have seas and continents. ![]() ![]() Mars is an old acquaintance of humanity, documented since ancient Egypt more than 3,500 years ago. ![]()
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