EXTRATERRESTRIALS AND UFOS 127
A few years earlier, in 1600, former Dominican monk and philosopher Giordano Bruno was burned alive in the streets of Rome. To humiliate him, the Church hung him upside down and stripped him
naked before finally burning him at the stake. What made the teachings of Bruno so dangerous? He had asked a simple question: is there
life in outer space? Like Copernicus, he believed that the Earth revolved around the sun, but unlike Copernicus, he believed that there
could be countless numbers of creatures like us living in outer space.
(Rather than entertain the possibility of billions of saints, popes,
churches, and Jesus Christs in outer space, it was more convenient for
the Church simply to burn him.)
For four hundred years the memory of Bruno has haunted the historians of science. But today Bruno has his revenge every few weeks.
About twice a month a new extrasolar planet is discovered orbiting a
star in space. Over 250 planets have now been documented orbiting
other stars in space. Bruno's prediction of extrasolar planets has been
vindicated. But one question still lingers. Although the Milky Way
galaxy may be teaming with extrasolar planets, how many of them can
support life? And if intelligent life does exist in space, what can science
say about it?
Hypothetical encounters with extraterrestrials, of course, have fascinated society and thrilled readers and movie audiences for generations. The most famous incident occurred on October 30, 1938, when
Orson Welles decided to play a Halloween trick on the American public. He took the basic plot of H. G. Wells's War of the Worlds and made
a series of short news announcements on CBS national radio, interrupting dance music to reenact, hour by hour, the invasion of Earth by
Martians and the subsequent collapse of civilization. Millions of Americans were panic-stricken over the "news" that machines from Mars
had landed in Grover's Mill, New Jersey, and were unleashing death
rays to destroy entire cities and conquer the world. (Newspapers later
recorded that spontaneous evacuations took place as people fled the
area, with eyewitnesses claiming they could smell poison gas and see
flashes of light in the distance.)
Fascination with Mars peaked again in the 1950s, when as-
A few years earlier, in 1600, former Dominican monk and philosopher Giordano Bruno was burned alive in the streets of Rome. To humiliate him, the Church hung him upside down and stripped him
naked before finally burning him at the stake. What made the teachings of Bruno so dangerous? He had asked a simple question: is there
life in outer space? Like Copernicus, he believed that the Earth revolved around the sun, but unlike Copernicus, he believed that there
could be countless numbers of creatures like us living in outer space.
(Rather than entertain the possibility of billions of saints, popes,
churches, and Jesus Christs in outer space, it was more convenient for
the Church simply to burn him.)
For four hundred years the memory of Bruno has haunted the historians of science. But today Bruno has his revenge every few weeks.
About twice a month a new extrasolar planet is discovered orbiting a
star in space. Over 250 planets have now been documented orbiting
other stars in space. Bruno's prediction of extrasolar planets has been
vindicated. But one question still lingers. Although the Milky Way
galaxy may be teaming with extrasolar planets, how many of them can
support life? And if intelligent life does exist in space, what can science
say about it?
Hypothetical encounters with extraterrestrials, of course, have fascinated society and thrilled readers and movie audiences for generations. The most famous incident occurred on October 30, 1938, when
Orson Welles decided to play a Halloween trick on the American public. He took the basic plot of H. G. Wells's War of the Worlds and made
a series of short news announcements on CBS national radio, interrupting dance music to reenact, hour by hour, the invasion of Earth by
Martians and the subsequent collapse of civilization. Millions of Americans were panic-stricken over the "news" that machines from Mars
had landed in Grover's Mill, New Jersey, and were unleashing death
rays to destroy entire cities and conquer the world. (Newspapers later
recorded that spontaneous evacuations took place as people fled the
area, with eyewitnesses claiming they could smell poison gas and see
flashes of light in the distance.)
Fascination with Mars peaked again in the 1950s, when as-