'Few persons except astronomers fully realise that of all the planets of the Solar system the only one whose solid surface has been seen with certainty is Mars.'
In 1907, Alfred Russel Wallace wrote the short book 'Is Mars Habitable?' in response to Professor Percival Lowell's book 'Mars and its Canals.' The latter seemed to invalidated the claims Wallace made in his 1902 book 'Man's Place in the Universe,' in which he came to the conclusion that Mars was not habitable.
In order to write this new volume, he embarked on months of research, interviewed experts, and scrupulously studied the martian climate and atmospheric conditions. Wallace points out that there are no signs of water vapour in Mars’ atmosphere, and that Lowell’s analysis of its climate was seriously flawed in several other aspects, which he discusses in detail here.
In 1907 Wallace wrote the short book Is Mars Habitable? to criticize the claims made by Percival Lowell that there were Martian canals built by intelligent beings. Wallace did months of research, consulted various experts, and produced his own scientific analysis of the martian climate and atmospheric conditions. Among other things Wallace pointed out that spectroscopic analysis had shown no signs of water vapour in the Martian atmosphere, that Lowell's analysis of Mars's climate was seriously flawed and badly overestimated the surface temperature, and that low atmospheric pressure would make liquid water, let alone a planet girding irrigation system, impossible.
Mars has always fascinated humanity and the findings of the past decade have revolutionized ideas about our nearest neighbour - revealing its watery past and geological similarity to Earth.
This book provides fact after fact about Mars for information hungry children and interested adults.
Wallace did months of research, consulted various experts, and produced his own scientific analysis of the martian climate and atmospheric conditions. Among other things Wallace pointed out that spectroscopic analysis had shown no signs of water vapour in the Martian atmosphere, that Lowell's analysis of Mars's climate was seriously flawed and badly overestimated the surface temperature, and that low atmospheric pressure would make liquid water, let alone a planet girding irrigation system, impossible.
