SIGNALS FROM AFAR?

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 107, 30 January 1920, Page 7

SIGNALS FROM AFAR?

9 MARCONI'S SPECULATIONS \ INTERESTING DISCUSSION AMONG EXPERTS ißy Telegraph-Press Association-Copyright London, January 2S. There is increasing public interest in Marconi's speculations concerning tho origin of the mysterious intcrriiplio.'is to wireless messages. Scientists nnd experts have freely joined the discussion. Major M'C'allnm, superintending engineer (it Marconi [louse, states that he lielieves that the interruptions arc coming too frequently to be accidental, but he asks, if they are emanating from tho moon or Mars, why are they coming in Morse? He suggests the interesting theory that the Martians are probably in a tnoro advanced stage of civilisation than the earth, and have perhaps been experimenting with wireless for hundreds of years, and, with an extra sensitive record, may liavo picked vp eodo messages and worked them out as we did German messages during the war. Now, maybe, they are trying to get in Touch with the earth at regular intervals. Major M'Callum advises careful investigation of the interruptions and the taking of exact records in-order to make certain, Re adds that Mars could certainly overcome tho distance- with a sufficiently powerful transmitter. Sir Norman Loekyer, K.R.S., declares that (jignals from one planet to another are not impossible, while Professor P. Soddy, P.K.S., says that Marconi's communications aro obviously of the greatest interest. Mr. E. U. Nobel, tho wellknown astronomer, says that we have no ground for believing that Hertzian waves travel through celestial space, while Professor E. Maunder, founder of the British Astronomical Association, disbelieves in the possibility of planetary coinmuiiieat rai,«hnd favours the theory that tho iutenvptions are caused by a magnetic disturbance in the sun. Professor S. Turner says that the signals come probably from, somewhere in the solar system, though not necessarily from intelligent life. Ho thinks, however, that it is probnble that life exists on other bodies in. the solar system. Commander Slec, of the Navnl Wireless Service, does not deny tho possibility of Marconi's theories, as tho great advance in wireless opens up a,vast field of research. M. Camillo Plamroarion, a popular French writer on astronomical'subjects, interviewed liy the "Daily Mail" hi Paris, while agreeing that the interruptions spoken of by Marconi aro possibly due to disturbances in the sun, added that perhaps Mars had been sending out signals for centuries, and that wo have not known how to reply.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.