QUESTION: 
Dear Dr. Farmer,
Were you one of the first scientists to know that there might be life on 
Mars?  

ANSWER from Jack Farmer on February 25, 1997:
There have been many other people before me who suggested there might be
life on Mars.  My contribution has been to formulate a strategy to go to
Mars to explore for signs of ancient life, an effort I call
Exopaleontology.  In the past,  the emphasis in Mars exploration was to
look for living organisms, an effort called Exobiology (meaning literally,
the science of extraterrestrial life).  After the Viking missions 20 years
ago or so, scientists pretty much gave up on the possibility of finding
living organisms on the surface of Mars.  Conditions there today are just
too extreme for life as we know it. But because Mars was much wetter and
warmer early in its history, it is quite possible life existed on the
Martian surface early in its history, eventually becoming extinct there as
Mars became a big refrigerator, losing its atmosphere and water.  If life
ever existed there, I believe it would have left behind a fossil record.
That's certainly what happens on Earth.  So my contribution has been to
devise a strategy to go to Mars and search for that fossil record, an
effort I call Exoapleontology (literally, the search for ancient life
beyond Earth).  This will begin with orbital exploration to look for the
right kinds of rocks, and robotic exploration of the surface to find the
right rocks and bring them back to Earth.
- Jack Farmer