Martian canal, artwork. American astronomer Percy Lowell (1855-1916) popularised the erroneous idea that Mars was criss-crossed by a network of artificial canals. He believed they had been created by an intelligent race as a means of carrying water from the ice caps to equatorial areas. But despite that other people also claimed to have seen these canals, there was in fact no evidence for their existence; it was simply wishful thinking.