A Man, a Plan, a Canal - Mars! - 99% Invisible

"Percival Lowell, a wealthy amateur astronomer with a fragile ego and an unwavering belief in Martian life, was at the center of this mass delusion. He established a state-of-the-art observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, and developed a grand, coherent theory proposing Mars was a dying, drying planet whose inhabitants had constructed a massive, planet-wide irrigation network of canals to transport meltwater from the polar ice caps to their cities."

"This utopian vision of a unified Martian society working together to survive resonated deeply with an American public grappling with the harsh realities of the Gilded Age, labor unrest, and political violence. Lowell was an articulate and persuasive speaker who popularized his ideas through public lectures and magazine articles, with the sensationalist yellow press eagerly amplifying his claims."

"The public looked to Mars not just with scientific curiosity, but with a profound existential hope that these superior beings might hold the answers to humanity's earthly problems. Even brilliant minds like Nikola Tesla believed they were intercepting radio signals from the red planet."

At the turn of the 20th century, Western culture became captivated by the belief that intelligent life existed on Mars. Percival Lowell, a wealthy amateur astronomer from a prominent New England family, established an observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona and proposed that Mars was a dying planet whose inhabitants had built a vast irrigation canal network to survive. Lowell's theory, inspired by Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli's observations, gained enormous public traction through lectures and magazine articles. The sensationalist yellow press amplified these claims, and even figures like Nikola Tesla claimed to intercept Martian radio signals. This extraterrestrial fascination permeated American culture through Broadway plays and vaudeville performances, reflecting public hope that superior beings might solve humanity's earthly problems during the turbulent Gilded Age.

Read at 99% Invisible