The Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze That Captured Turn-of-the-Century America.

Join us for a captivating talk with David Baron, award-winning journalist, broadcaster, and author of The Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze That Captured Turn-of-the-Century America. 

David Baron is a former science correspondent for NPR and Chair in Astrobiology at the Library of Congress, Baron has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and more. In 2020, he served as a fellow in transdisciplinary science at Arizona State University’s School of Earth and Space Exploration and the Interplanetary Initiative.

The Martians
A mere century ago, Martians were thought to be real—not fictional—creatures. In the 1890s, the Arizona astronomer Percival Lowell discovered supposed irrigation canals on Mars. Soon, inventor Nikola Tesla announced that he had received radio signals from the red planet, and no less of a scientific authority than Alexander Graham Bell proclaimed, “Mars is inhabited by a highly civilized and intelligent race of beings.” A craze swept society. Americans could read about the Martians in The New York Times, hear of them in Sunday sermons, and see them depicted on the Broadway stage. While inventors devised schemes for communicating with Mars, armchair philosophers proposed questions Earth might ask its older and wiser neighbor.

 

David spent seven years investigating this strange case of mass delusion. In his fast-paced, highly illustrated talk—filled with period photographs and depictions of the putative Martians themselves—he reveals what the episode says about the human mind: the fallibility of our senses and the power of belief. It is a tale both cautionary and uplifting. Although the Martians never were real, the excitement about them was genuine and world-changing, for it sparked a new genre called science fiction and helped launch us into space—toward Mars.

Thursday, October 9, 2025
3:00–4:00 p.m. ASU Space Tabling Showcase 
4:00–5:00 p.m. David Baron Presentation
5:00–6:00 p.m. Book Signing 

 

ASU Hayden Library
Research Commons Area I 3rd Floor
300 E Orange St.
Tempe, AZ 85281
Google map I 3rd floor map