The Rise and the Demise of Martian CivilizationIn 1877 an Italian astronomer named Giovannia Schiapa

The Rise and the Demise of Martian CivilizationIn 1877 an Italian astronomer named Giovannia Schiaparelli looked into his telescope and peered at the red planet. With the telescope technology of the time Schiaparelli could only see a very blurry image of Mars, but if he looked closely he could distinguish certain features on the surface.  The most noticeable were a number of long channels he called canali (channels).  He drew some pictures of what he observed and published his results.  When Schiaparelli’s results were translated to English, the word “canali”, meaning “channels”, was misinterpreted as “canals”.  Whereas “channels” denotes natural formations, “canals” denotes artificially made formations.  The news spread across the world like wildfire, an alien civilization existed on Mars!All over the world astronomers turned their telescopes toward Mars to take a peak at the incredible Martian civilization.  One of the biggest supporters of the Martian canal theory was the American businessman, mathematician, and astronomer Percival Lowell.  Lowell became a household name because of his theories, and built a long career on studying Martian civilization.  After numerous observations of the planet, he wrote books, published papers, and gave speaking tours all over America to reveal his findings.  According to Lowell Mars was a dying world, so to continue to survive the Martians built a series of planet wide canals to bring fresh water from the polar ice caps.  He even published detailed maps of the canals.  When Lowell observed Mars two years later, he noticed that two more canals had appeared.  Immediately afterwards he published an article announcing that the Martians had built two new large canals in less than two years.  Obviously the Martians had super advanced technology and engineering skills.Lowell’s theories and publications sparked a Martian craze.  Other scientists theorized what the Martians looked like, and how the evolved.  Martians entered pop culture when the science fiction writer H.G. Wells wrote War of the Worlds, a novel in which the Martians invade and conquer Earth.  Others tried to find ways to communicate with the Martians.  Even the great inventor Nikola Tesla believed that he was receiving communications from Mars via radio.  The Martians became the most popular aliens of the late 19th and 20th century.  To many it was undeniable; Martians were real and we are not alone in the universe. However there were many who were skeptical of Lowell’s theories.  In the early 20th century new technology began to reveal cracks in the Martian theory.  In 1909 new telescope technology showed that there were no canals on Mars.  Rather the canals were optical illusions created by natural features such as mountains erosion patterns.  Spectroscopic analysis later proved that the Martian atmosphere had no water vapor.  The last nail in the Martian coffin occurred in 1965 when the probe Mariner 4 flew by Mars, taking pictures of the planet.  What was found was a barren, uninhabitable world.  Later exploration would show that Mars may have once been habitable, but is certainly no longer.  Instead of little green aliens, at best science can speculate that Mars is inhabited by a few very simple strains of bacteria, if at all. -- source link
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