The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1909-05-08
PROPOSED SIGNAL TO MARS.
Professor Wood of Johns Hopkins
Declines Unique Job.

Baltimore. April 29-The fame OF
Professor Robert W, Wood, the well
known PHYSICIST of the Johns Hopkins
university seems to have spread to
| Texas, judging from the number of
| kilograms which he has received from
Stamford, in western Texas, asking
| him to assume charge of an observa-
tory in those regions, the object of
which is to signal the people of the
| planet Mars. incidentally Dr. Wood
suggested a plan to reach the planet
Mars.
DR.. Wood is at a loss to account for
the reason of this steady flow of tele-
grams from that quarter. AS far as
he can ascertain. he says, some one in
that section of the country seems to
have been greatly struck with a re-
mark humorously made by Professor
| Pickering of the Harvard university
the other day to the effect that with a
large mirror several miles long, which
would cost about S10O00.O0O. it would
be possible for the inhabitants of the
earth to signal their brethren on Mars
The Texan, says DR.. Wood, must
have discovered that he has been con-
Quoting a series of experiments with d
mercurious mirror, and suggested to
his fellow-citizens that Professor
Wood construct an observatory at
Stamford. for which the residents We're
to pledge $4,000.
Speaking of the matter, Professor
Wood said last night:
"As to the project of attracting the
attention of the Martians to the fact
that there are rational beings on the
earth, it seems to me that if there arc
,r-I,r i-t 11l-
spicuous in this way it would be bet
ter to devise some simpler way than
the construction of a mirror several
miles i'm diameter. large black spot
upon the white alkali plans could be
constructed at much less expense, ard
would be as easily perceived by the
Mart.anS if they exist and have tel
escapes as powerful as ours. 1t would
be as easy TO wink signals with the
black spo1 as with a mirror of equal
size probably easier
"The spot could be made in small
sections Of black cloth arranged to ro'!
up on Ions cylinders, exposing the
white ground underneath. the cylin-
ders being operated simultaneously by
electric motors. / am unable to say
how much four square miles of cloth
would cost You will have to consult
the dry goods houses or the people
who write arithmetic.
1--WE should probably get no answer,
for the Martians are supposedly older
and wiser than we are.
q have never, and am not now Civ
ing any attention at all to the problem
of signaling to Mars. My reply to re-
peated kilograms from Fort Worth.
Tex. asking if ! would consider the
question of building a large mercury
mirror in western Texas. if funds were
provided, was as follows
q 'Experiments with q small twenty
inch mercury mirror are still in pro-
gress. It would be a great mistake to
consider the construction of larger
instrument until the smaller one is
perfected Thank you for your offer
of assistance, which is appreciated
Nothing was mentioned in any Of
the kilograms about possible commu-
nicat'on with Mars, and ] was much
surprised to- head that a. dispatch had
been sent out saying thatI had decid-
ed to carry out their plans of attempt
ing to establish communication with
another planet
Il have never for a moment believed
that the mercury telescope would play
any spectacular part iii the science of
astronomy The experiments We're
taken up during the summer months
to ascertain whether the mechanical
difficulties could be overcome. and
turned out so much better than | had
any reason to expect that have been
thinking over the advisability of per-
hans some day constructing larger
possibly six or eight fe@s
in diameter"