Edvard Engelbert Neovius

Vår tids största uppgift Helsingfors, 1876 In-8, 220x140 mm, 58 + 7 pp, illustrated covers The Finnish officer and mathematician E. E. Neovius published, in 1875, a booklet in which he proposed a method to contact the inhabitans of Mars, using light signals projected to Mars with huge beacons. He constructed a message where the meaning of signals gradually rises from arithmetical concepts to logic and physics of the Solar System. The book was translated to French and Russian, but was forgotten when more sceptical attitudes replaced the optimistic views of intelligent life on Mars. Only one copy has the date of 1875, and 56pp. This is the second augmented edition of 1876.