Are we alone? Scientific dissemination and literary representation of extraterrestrial life in Chilean magazines (1900-1915)

Abstract

At the end of the 1870s, the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli reported the discovery of supposed channels on the planet Mars. From then on, there was a controversy between those who agreed and disagreed with this theory. During the early years of the twentieth century this scientific discussion intensified and permeated the pages of magazines (especially illustrated and cultural magazines) for two main reasons. First, because the controversy was subject to optical testing, and secondly, because magazines were able to include visual devices such as photographs thanks to advances in the printing industry. Our work studies the coverage in the Chilean magazines of this controversy about the channels on Mars that resulted in the question of whether or not there was life on the red planet (the channels were supposedly artificial rivers that would have been built by some intelligent living being). The proposal involves analyzing the ways in which these astronomical theories that circulated globally were disseminated and represented locally by reviewing some of the main Chilean magazines of the early twentieth century, such as Sucesos, Zig-Zag, Corre-Vuela and Pacífico Magazine.