'As he sat beside his instrument on the hillside in Colorado, in the deep silence of that austere, inspiring region, where you plant your feet in gold and your head brushes the constellations - as he sat there one evening, alone, his attention, exquisitely alive at that juncture, was arrested by a faint sound from the receiver - three fairy taps, one after the other, at a fixed interval. His story was picked up and reported on broadly in the press.Īn article from the Richmond Times offered an extensive description and commentary on his alleged discovery. In 1901, engineer Nicola Tesla made the astonishing claim that he was receiving radio communications from Mars. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries the idea and development of wireless telegraphy, sending and receiving electromagnetic waves through the air, offered new method of searching for communications from space. Tesla Promises Radio Communication with Mars Soon, the development of radio technology would provide a much more powerful way to listen for and send messages to other worlds. From the cover illustration, it would appear that one rather civilized Martian is using a spotlight to communicate the tune while the other watches Earth with a telescope, likely waiting to see if we have the same taste in marches and two steps. The 1901 piece, ' A Signal From Mars, March and Two Step' offers music that Martians might be playing for us. We can find this same idea in a piece of music. In noting 'a luminous projection on the southern edge of the planet', the article suggests that this might be because 'the inhabitants of Mars were flashing messages' to Earth. Could we communicate with another planet? How might we look for signals and messages from other worlds?Īn 1896 newspaper article titled ' A Signal from Mars' offered one example of how we might receive communications from the planet.

As the 20th century began, interest in the potential of life on Mars and the possible civilizations there lead to a search for signals.

Carl sagan voyager 1