A little ramble through 19th century astronomy - Trying to contact Venusians in 1874

 Nature February 5^th 1874

 

Signalling between the Earth and the planet Venus is a suggestion made in all good faith by a French astronomer M.Charles Cros, , who considers the coming transit of Venus to be a good opportunity for ascertaining whether there are inhabitants on that planet, and, if so, entering into relations with them. He says:” It is possible that Venus is inhabited; that amongst its inhabitants are astronomers; that the latter judge the passage of their planet across the solar disc to be an object to excite our curiosity; finally it is possible that these savants will strive in some way to make signals to us at the precise moment when they might suppose that many telescopes will be levelled at their planet.

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