Life on Mars was discovered a long time ago - in science fiction books
By: Avi Blizovsky
12.8.96
"No one would have believed in the last years of the 19th century, that beings with more intelligence than humans, and yet mortals like them, carefully and attentively watch their guests; And that while humans are absorbed in their affairs, they are studied and studied perhaps with the same exactness, with which the scientist studies through the microscope the creatures that infest and reproduce in a drop of water."
This description is taken from the book "The War of the Worlds" by H. G. Wells, written at the beginning of the century (the book was published in Hebrew by Keter Publishing) and which describes the invasion of the Martians on Earth. The book and the Orson Welles-performed radio skit based on it - and which took America by storm in 1936 - paved the way for the science fiction stories in which Mars starred.
Since then, few, if any, stories have referred to Mars as a dead planet. In view of this literary preparation - the discovery from last week, according to which 3.6 billion years ago there were primitive organisms on Mars - did not surprise one community, that of science fiction writers and their readers.
One of the prominent books in the genre is "Lists from the Martians", by Ray Bradbury, first published in 1951 and published in Hebrew by Am Oved. The Martians in the book disguise themselves as the dead family members of the landing crew members. All 16 crew members go astray, including Captain John Blake. At night, he began to suspect: "Suppose there were Martians... who wanted to destroy us, as invaders, and they wanted to do it in a very clever way... Well, what is the best way that the Martians are able to take against the earthlings equipped with atomic bombs? The answer was interesting. Telepathy, hypnosis, memory and imagination… Captain John Blake broke down and started running around the room…”
In Gordon Eklund and Gregory Benford's story, "Hells is Florida", the microbial life on Mars is a hybrid between terrestrial bacteria that were attached to a manned Soviet spacecraft from 66, and single-celled creatures inhabiting Mars. In the children's book "The Lost Race of Mars", by Robert Silverberg, published in Hebrew by Ladori Publishing, Sally and Jim accompany their father who is traveling for a sabbatical at a Mars colony. On a tour of the star, they met a small, shrunken creature that was several tens of meters tall. "A soft and thin voice said: 'Come down here, there is no need to be afraid of us.'"
"'Do you speak English?' Jim asked."
"'We speak in the language of thought,' replied the Martian"...
Since Percival Lowell placed his telescope about a century ago and saw the canals on Mars which he interpreted as the handiwork of intelligent beings, the door to this genre was opened. But unfortunately for science fiction fans, apparently there are no telepathic telepathic humanoid beings on Mars.
In one of the Internet discussion groups dealing with science fiction, one of the participants said following the discovery of signs of life on Mars: "It's just a shame that instead of little green people we got little green bacteria." At least the initials in English (LGM) are the same.
The article was published in the "Third Millennium" section of Haaretz newspaper which I wrote between 1995-1999.
