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Inspired by the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli's observations of channels or 'canali', American amateur astronomer Percival Lowell convinced millions that the surface of Mars was covered with an elaborate system of canals. These 'observations' were actually the result of an optical illusion which occurred when looking at the red planet through poor-quality telescopes. Sarah Dillon visits Lowell's observatory high up in Flagstaff, Arizona to find out more about the supreme populariser of science. First broadcast on We Are the Martians, 7 March 2017.