Undoubtedly the greatest believer and promoter of Martian canals was Percival Lowell, astronomer and brilliant mathematician. He belonged to a late nineteenth century Boston family of considerable social status. The Lowell family was extremely wealthy, so much so that Lowell totally financed the observatory at Flagstaff, Arizona, which now bears his name. That kind of wealth in nineteenth century Boston set you apart completely from most other humans. A contemporary jingle runs: So this is dear old Boston, The home of the bean and the cod, Where Lowells talk only to Cabots And Cabots talk only to God!
There can be no doubt that Lowell was an accomplished mathematician. His calculations concerning gravitational perturbations to the movement of the planet Neptune, paved the way towards the discovery of the planet Pluto, some 14 years after Lowell's death.
When it came to Mars, however, things were quite different. Undoubtedly Lowell was influenced by Schiaparelli. Yet he believed increasingly that the geometrical patterns he maintained he could see on Mars were the work of intelligent beings, irrigating on a truly vast scale, a vegetation whose seasonal reawakening spread from the poles to the equator. He published a number of very popular books on the subject which enjoyed great influence and success. Lowell's maps of Mars became more geometrical.
Even at the height of the popularity of the Martian canals theory around the turn of the century there were a few experienced and keen sighted observers who would have none of it. Eugene Antoniardi was one such astronomer, blessed with acute vision and with access to the finest telescopes in Europe, situated at altitudes where atmospheric 'seeing' conditions were at their best. At close oppositions when through the most powerful instruments, Mars can look no better that a 'shaky' golf ball held at arms length. Antoniardi maintained that Lowell had been on the verge of seeing true fine detail but he ended up 'joining the dots'
Percival Lowell's books on Mars and its canals were not only popular, they influenced a number of popular fantasy writers of the day. H. G. Wells published his 'War of the Worlds' in 1898, shortly after Lowell's first Mars book.
In 1912, four years after Lowell published his last book 'Mars as the abode of life', Edgar Rice Burroughs (Tarzan) published 'The Princess of Mars' and followed it with a series of Mars fantasies.
The general fascination which most of us have when it comes to the possibility that another world might be populated with bizarre and intelligent beings has kept science fiction writers busy to this day - at a time when science fact can be even more amazing.
Resourceful broadcasters can rely on the relative gullibility and naivety of the population to make their points. One such was a young actor and producer of genius, Orson Wells, whose spoof 1938 hallowe'en radio production 'Invasion from Mars', based loosely on the H. G. Wells story, caused near riots and resulted in two suicides. Wells' production was investigated by the American Broadcasting Commision but he and his career survived.
