A mere century ago, Martians were thought to be real—not fictional—creatures. “Mars is inhabited by a highly civilized and intelligent race of beings,” proclaimed Alexander Graham Bell afterastronomers discovered supposed irrigation canals on the red planet and Nikola Tesla received radio signals purportedly from there. While biologists debated whether the denizens of Mars might be winged or gilled, a craze swept society. By 1906, you could read about the Martians in The New York Times, hear of them in Sunday sermons, and see them depicted on the Broadway stage. Inventors devised schemes for communicating with Mars, while armchair philosophers proposed questions Earth might ask its older and wiser neighbor.

Best-selling author David Baron 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, the power of belief, and the lure of sensationalism. 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.

What spurs individuals—and societies—to strive for scientific greatness? Author David Baron explores this question through the tale of an epic event that inspired America’s rise as a scientific superpower in the late nineteenth century. In the decade after the Civil War, at a time when Europe dominated the world in science, a total solar eclipse darkened America’s western frontier and injected patriotic fervor into the study of astronomy. Based on original research for his acclaimed book American Eclipse, Baron draws lessons from the celestial event and focuses on three tenacious and brilliant scientists who ventured to the West to observe the hidden sun: planet hunter James Craig Watson, astronomer Maria Mitchell, and inventor Thomas Edison. Through their stories, Baron examines the different motivations and skills that can drive scientific achievement.