Bill J Gray <
pluto@...> wrote:
>Can we look at Mars and say, "Yeah, I guess I can see why
>Schiaparelli thought he saw canals"? Or can you only see them
>if you're already convinced they're there?
Some years back, Prof Richard Gregory (Prof of Psych in Bristol, great
^n grandson of James G of telescope fame) conducted a lecture on this.
He talked about the Schiaparelli map, showed it to us, and we all saw
canals. Then we had an hour plus on the psychology of perception and he
showed us another drawing of Mars. Of course, no canals. Then he showed
the first one again. Identical!
Of course, Schiaparelli did not claim canals -- "canali" = "channels";
Lowell mis-translated from the Italian.
--
Stephen Tonkin