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Lowell Observatory PhotoPercival Lowell (1855-1916) is one of the best known observers of the planet Mars. Lowell is pictured here in the observer's chair of the 61-centimeter (24-inch) refracting telescope in the observatory he established in Flagstaff, Arizona. Lowell Observatory is still one of the foremost sites for telescopic studies of Mars and the other planets.
The Canals of Mars
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© Smithsonian Institution,photoID# W1998EP0001
Percival Lowell made this globe of Mars summarizing his observations of the
planet for the year 1901. -Loaned by Lowell Observatory
The straight lines represent features that were first "seen" by the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli in 1877. He called them canali, an Italian word meaning channels. The canali were also observed by Lowell who concluded they were canals built by intelligent beings. The canals supposedly supplied water from the melting polar caps to a desert world.
In his book "Mars as the Abode of Life", published in 1908, Percival
Lowell presented his theory that Mars' canals were built by intelligent beings.
Today we know that there are no canals built by intelligent beings on Mars and that Lowell was mistaken in his conclusions. See The Surface of Mars-Water.
09/12/97 (vp)
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