LIFE ON MARS

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27988, 7 June 1956, Page 14

LIFE ON MARS

“Great Deal of Wishful Thinking”

ADDRESS BY MR K. W. ROTH

“A great deal of wishful thinking has been put forward on the question of life on Mars. Two years ago, that planet was in a favourable position for observation, but the many persons who observed it through the telescope at Canterbury College were disappointed because they could see so little,” said Mr K. W. Roth, a lecturer in physics at Canterbury University College, in a lecture to the Canterbury branch of the Royal Society of New Zealand last evening.

One schoolboy had apnroached him after looking through' the telescope, and said that he had not seen any people moving about, said Mr Roth. “It should be realised that Mars can be observed well only on very rare occasions, and even a 60-inch telescope focussed on Mars is no better than looking at the moon through binoculars,” he said.

Referring to the immense size of the universe, Mr Roth said that, if the earth and the sun were l-16th of an inch apart, then the average distance between the hundreds of galaxies in the heavens would be 160.000 miles.

The rings round Saturn, the origin of craters on the moon, and the origin of the moon itself, were also discussed by Mr Roth. Mr R. J. Scarlett, of the Canterbury Museum, moved a vote of thanks to the speaker.