IN THE ATTIC OF SCIENCE (6/6) – Life on Mars? Yes, and even a very advanced civilization, astronomers have long thought, having seen rectilinear structures on the surface of the red planet.
How are diseases born? What is at the center of the Earth? What is fire? Throughout history, man has tried to explain the world to himself… and he has often been wrong. Le Figaro tells you about some of the trial and error that made science.
In July 1965, the first close-up images of Mars by NASA’s Mariner 4 probe definitively put an end to a decades-old controversy. The linear structures observed by many astronomers from the end of the XIXe century, which were still represented on the maps that NASA used to prepare the mission, were for some the proof of the existence of an advanced extraterrestrial civilization. Alas, Mariner 4 reveals a desert world that seems as dead as the Moon. No trace of the channels. “Mariner was unlucky in the end and only photographed very cratered regions, with no interesting relief”notes Pierre Lagrange, sociologist of science, associate researcher…
This article is for subscribers only. You have 84% left to discover.
Pushing back the limits of science is also freedom.
Keep reading your article for €0.99 for the first month
Already subscribed? Login