Life, 1909-06-03 · page 22 of 56
Life — June 3, 1909 — page 22: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a satirical piece mocking contemporary scientific pretension. Life claims to have achieved "the greatest scientific achievement of the age" by contacting Mars—a reference to real debates about potential Martian life and canal observations by astronomers like Percival Lowell (popular in the early 1900s). The satire targets American excess and vanity: Life hires Professor Wiggleton (a fabricated expert previously employed as a "Seeing Boston coach"), spares no expense using Rockefeller's golf links, and casually references manipulating Senator Aldrich and commodity tariffs. The absurdity escalates with Morse code communication allegedly established within hours. The accompanying illustrations contrast ridiculous historical costumes with "graceful structures of to-day," suggesting smugness about modern superiority. The joke is that Life presents this fantastical achievement as real, mocking both scientific overconfidence and the magazine's own grandiose self-promotion.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
770 -LIFE- LIFE, begs to call attention, in these three pictures, to the absurd headdresses and costumes of former centuries contrasted with the graceful structures of to-day Mars Heard From Life Beats the World in the Greatest Scientific z Achievement of the Age E have done it. Yesterday we had a long talk with Mars. But alas— This is really the story of combined success and failure— one of the grandest, most magnificent successes of the age, and one of the most pathetic failures. How did it happen? We will explain. Immediately on hearing the news that it was possible to signal Mars, we hired Prof. H. G. Wiggleton, of Harvard, who for years was employed on the “ Secing Boston "’ coach, and is fully qualified as a keen observer of things mundane and celestial. “Spare no expense,"’ were our instructions, “even if you have to double the tariff on sponges and get Senator Aldrich to turn over the proceeds.” The Rockefeller golf links were immediately secured, and a reflector, consisting of equal parts of Amalgamated Copper, United States Steel and Lawson Brass was made. Professor Wiggleton began to send forth flashes on Monday. All that night he kept it up, using the Morse system. Suddenly, an hour after midnight, the telescope revealed a tiny light on Mars. It was one block from the great canal. It died out and was followed by another. In two hours more Wiggleton was in possession of the Mars alphabetic code. By four o'clock conversation had be- gun. We give it even now, with tears in our eyes, realizing comicbooks.com