LOWELL OBSERVATORY DIRECTOR SAYS MARS 'IS HABITABLE'
Flagstaff, Arizona (JFK+50) On August 24, 1924, V. M. Slipher*, director of the Lowell Observatory, said "the presence of steam or vapor arising from melting polar caps and appearance of clouds on the surface establish the fact that atmosphere exists on Mars**."
The director, although admitting that there is no proof of animal life of any kind on the Red Planet, he is certain "it is habitable."
*Vesto Melvin Slipher (1875-1969) was born in Mulberry, Indiana & educated at Indiana University. VMS became an astronomer who performed the 1st measurements of radial velocities of galaxies.
**Mars is the 4th planet from the Sun. It has an orange-red color because its surface is covered with iron oxide dust. Its atmosphere is 95.32% carbon dioxide, 2.7% nitrogen, 1.6% argon & only 0.13% oxygen. Earth forms (as they say on Star Trek) cannot breathe Martian air.
SOURCE
"Clouds and Steam Establish Theory That Mars Has Air," The Sunday Star, Washington, D.C., August 24, 1924, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
