In 1953, Martian trenches were an indisputable scientific fact. In quotes from a popular science book of the same period "Science and the World - The Wonders of the World and its Mysteries for Youth and the People" edited by A. opaz Yavneh Tel Aviv Publishing House
A. opaz
During the book week, apart from stocking up on new books, I try to fill in the gaps I have from the time before I was born, I wish we had what we had then. And I discovered only the tip of the iceberg - a whole series of Avi Gil - Know the... Space, the human body, art and more. In addition to this series, I purchased one book from another series - Science and the World. The writing in columns and the various jumps give the impression that this was a pamphlet that was distributed separately and then became a book, and it is possible that my book is the second in the series.
The book I have was printed in 1958, published by Yavneh, but it "talks" about 1956 as the future, and from this I conclude that the first edition preceded the one I have by several years, and it was not revised.
In any case, the book opens with a one-page article discussing the production of energy from solar rays, and continues on page two, with the obligatory question, "Is there life on Mars?"
post Scriptum. How many of the news on the science website will look like these in 50 years?
Here are some excerpts from the article: Is there life on Mars?
We may know this in 1956. While the red planet reaches its closest point to Earth, once every 15 or 17 years, this is the most convenient time for the content (does anyone remember this word and why did astronomers return to the foreign word?) to try and solve the riddles of Mars , such as the blurred marks on it called "trenches". The next opportunity to see Mars "up close" will be in three years.
Like all the other planets and their moons, the surface of Mars is too cold to emit its own light, and it must be observed and photographed using the relatively weak sunlight that is projected from its surface. In the past, it was necessary to expose the photographic table for an extended period of time in order to obtain a plausible photograph of Mars, and the longer the exposure time, the greater the blur in the resulting image. But now a new hope has been born to overcome these difficulties and reduce the exposure time.
The Martian trenches and their significance
For hundreds of years, people have watched the sky and put forward different opinions about life on other planets. However, in 1877, while looking through the telescope at the planet Mars, Giovanni Shafarelli, from the Milan Observatory in Italy, noticed a phenomenon that at once turned these explanations into a scientific problem. Shafarelli has been watching Mars for years. Like others, he also noticed light colored patches that were believed to be nothing but dry land (nowadays they are assumed to be deserts), greenish blue spots that were once thought to be seas and the warning white polar caps that expanded and shrank according to the changing of the seasons on the planet.
But now Shafarelli made his observation with more caution than usual, because in that year Mars was at its smallest distance from Earth - about 56 million km. Due to excellent atmospheric conditions, Chaparelli discovered dark blurred lines connecting the "continent" of Mars with the darker "seas". He called these Kanali, which in Hebrew mean "channels". A surprising feature regarding the canals was their duplication. "This phenomenon", Shafarli said, "happened especially in the months after the melting of the polar caps. Within a few days, one dark line would turn into two parallel lines stretching along the previous track. And the fact that these canals are laid out with absolute geometric precision as if they were made with the help of a ruler or caliper, caused others to see them as the handiwork of sane human beings living on the planet. I am extremely careful not to disagree with this opinion that there is nothing in it that is contrary to allowing".
However, this discovery of his splashed jets that, when they arrived in America, lit a fire in it. A young American with bright talents and wealth, Percival Laval also read about Chaparelli's discoveries. That same year, he - a member of a very well-known family in New England, which was close to poets, scholars and statesmen - was preparing for a career in the diplomatic service by touring the Far East, after graduating from Harvard College with honors in 1876, but upon hearing about the "Canali" he decided to dedicate his fortune and his talent to explore the planets, especially Mars.
Observatory - in honor of Mars
After touring the following locations around the world, Lovell finally established his observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, where the dry mountain air ensured a minimum of atmospheric disturbance. In 1894, when Mars was approaching Earth again, he and his crew made thousands of observations of the red planet. By the time of his death in 1916, Lowell had probably made more observations of Mars than any other content.
While Chaparelli doubted the reality of ascension, Lowell was absolutely certain of it. His paintings from 1909 show the planet covered in a complicated geometric system of nearly 700 single and double canals. Lowell also did not hesitate much in giving an interpretation to his discoveries. "We have absolute proof that the planet Mars is inhabited." said.
To prove his claim, Lowell wrote three books: "Mars and its Canals", "Mars as a Residence for Life" and "The Development of the Worlds". His reasons were simple but charming.
Mars, Lowell believed, was a dying planet. Having once been a sort of flourishing culture with a high level of education, Harihu is drying up today. The bright and crimson areas visible to our eyes are mountains of sun-scorched deserts. Only at the poles is a large amount of water left. In their desperate attempt to prolong the fertility of their planet, the Martians built a vast system of canals. These transport water from the frozen polar caps to the dark and watery areas where the inhabitants of Mars live. In order to move this enormous amount of water over such enormous distances, huge pumps are needed whose power exceeds 4,000 times the power of Niagara Falls.
Drafting and editing: H. J. Glykasm, translations and technical writing
