Lowell's popular impact was much larger than his scientific impact. First hostile alien invasion story.
Story strikes tremendous resonance in popular imagination.
We will see extracts of the 1953 film in class. Introduces concept of interplanetary migration. Recognizes that the exterrestrial environment is not benign for humans. We can never anticipate the unseen good or evil that may come upon us suddenly out of space. But, as name implies, in most cases is not identified, whether as spacecraft or normal phenomenon.