Thin black lines stretching across the surface of Mars, resulting in speculation by some that intelligent life existed on the plant. In 1877, Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli observed a fine network of lines on the planet’s surface. In spite of being a committed believer in life on other worlds, he presented his description with scientific caution. However, the neutral Italian term canali (which just means “channels,” either natural or human-made) was translated into English as “canals,” implying that the lines were artificially constructed waterways, requiring either past or present intelligent life on Mars. Committed believers in the plurality of inhabited worlds, foremost among them Percival Lowell, a leading U.S. astronomer, soon built up an elaborate picture of Martian life in the irrigated strips on each side of the canals, which carried water from the Martian polar regions to the drier equatorial areas. Lowell’s popular books on the subject were picked up by science-fiction writers of the early 20th century and brought to many thousands of readers through their fantastic stories.
In 1892, when observers again looked at the planet, they did not see canals in the same places as Schiaparelli’s, encouraging speculation about changing patterns of seasonal crops growing along water channels. Schiaparelli later commented that the Mars discussions had attracted many charlatans.