Garrison Hilliard
2017-02-17 02:25:21 UTC
By Paul Rincon Science editor, BBC News website
* 15 February 2017
A newly unearthed essay by Winston Churchill reveals he was open to the
possibility of life on other planets.
In 1939, the year World War Two broke out, Churchill penned a popular
science article in which he mused about the likelihood of
extra-terrestrial life.
The 11-page typed draft, probably intended for a newspaper, was updated
in the 1950s but never published.
In the 1980s, the essay was passed to a US museum, where it sat until
its rediscovery last year.
The document was uncovered in the National Churchill Museum in Fulton,
Missouri, by the institution's new director Timothy Riley. Mr Riley
then passed it to the Israeli astrophysicist and author Mario Livio who
describes the contents in [70]the latest issue of Nature journal.
Churchill's interest in science is well-known: he was the first British
prime minister to employ a science adviser, Frederick Lindemann, and
met regularly with scientists such as Sir Bernard Lovell, a pioneer of
radio astronomy.
This documented engagement with the scientific community was partly
related to the war effort, but he is credited with funding UK
laboratories, telescopes and technology development that spawned
post-war discoveries in fields from molecular genetics to X-ray
crystallography.
[71]The Tizard Mission: Start of a special relationship?
Image copyright NASA Image caption In the essay, Churchill outlines the
concept of habitable zones - more than 50 years before the discovery of
exoplanets
Despite this background, Dr Livio described the discovery of the essay
as a "great surprise".
He told the BBC's Inside Science programme: "[Mr Riley] said, 'I would
like you to take a look at something.' He gave me a copy of this essay
by Churchill. I saw the title, Are We Alone in the Universe? and I
said, 'What? Churchill wrote about something like this?'"
Dr Livio says the wartime leader reasoned like a scientist about the
likelihood of life on other planets.
Churchill's thinking mirrors many modern arguments in astrobiology -
the study of the potential for life on other planets. In his essay, the
former prime minister builds on the Copernican Principle - the idea
that human life on Earth shouldn't be unique given the vastness of the
Universe.
Churchill defined life as the ability to "breed and multiply" and noted
the vital importance of liquid water, explaining: "all living things of
the type we know require [it]."
More than 50 years before the discovery of exoplanets, he considered
the likelihood that other stars would host planets, concluding that a
large fraction of these distant worlds "will be the right size to keep
on their surface water and possibly an atmosphere of some sort". He
also surmised that some would be "at the proper distance from their
parent sun to maintain a suitable temperature".
Churchill also outlined what scientists now describe as the "habitable"
or "Goldilocks" zone - the narrow region around a star where it is
neither too hot nor too cold for life.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Churchill supported the
development of game-changing technologies such as radar
Correctly, the essay predicts great opportunities for exploration of
the Solar System.
"One day, possibly even in the not very distant future, it may be
possible to travel to the Moon, or even to Venus and Mars," Churchill
wrote.
But the politician concluded that Venus and Earth were the only places
in the Solar System capable of hosting life, whereas we now know that
icy moons around Jupiter and Saturn are promising targets in the search
for extra-terrestrial biology. However, such observations are
forgivable given scientific knowledge at the time of writing.
In an apparent reference to the troubling events unfolding in Europe,
Churchill wrote: "I for one, am not so immensely impressed by the
success we are making of our civilisation here that I am prepared to
think we are the only spot in this immense universe which contains
living, thinking creatures, or that we are the highest type of mental
and physical development which has ever appeared in the vast compass of
space and time."
Churchill was a prolific writer: in the 1920s and 30s, he penned
popular science essays on topics as diverse as evolution and fusion
power. Mr Riley, director of the Churchill Museum, believes the essay
on alien life was written at the former prime minister's home in
Chartwell in 1939, before World War II broke out.
It may have been informed by conversations with the wartime leader's
friend, Lindemann, who was a physicist, and might have been intended
for publication in the News of the World newspaper.
It was also written soon after the 1938 US radio broadcast by Orson
Welles dramatising The War of the Worlds by HG Wells. The radio
programme sparked a panic when it was mistaken by some listeners for a
real news report about the invasion of Earth by Martians.
Dr Livio told BBC News that there were no firm plans to publish the
article because of issues surrounding the copyright. However, he said
the Churchill Museum was working to resolve these so that the
historically important essay can eventually see the light of day.
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-38985425
* 15 February 2017
A newly unearthed essay by Winston Churchill reveals he was open to the
possibility of life on other planets.
In 1939, the year World War Two broke out, Churchill penned a popular
science article in which he mused about the likelihood of
extra-terrestrial life.
The 11-page typed draft, probably intended for a newspaper, was updated
in the 1950s but never published.
In the 1980s, the essay was passed to a US museum, where it sat until
its rediscovery last year.
The document was uncovered in the National Churchill Museum in Fulton,
Missouri, by the institution's new director Timothy Riley. Mr Riley
then passed it to the Israeli astrophysicist and author Mario Livio who
describes the contents in [70]the latest issue of Nature journal.
Churchill's interest in science is well-known: he was the first British
prime minister to employ a science adviser, Frederick Lindemann, and
met regularly with scientists such as Sir Bernard Lovell, a pioneer of
radio astronomy.
This documented engagement with the scientific community was partly
related to the war effort, but he is credited with funding UK
laboratories, telescopes and technology development that spawned
post-war discoveries in fields from molecular genetics to X-ray
crystallography.
[71]The Tizard Mission: Start of a special relationship?
Image copyright NASA Image caption In the essay, Churchill outlines the
concept of habitable zones - more than 50 years before the discovery of
exoplanets
Despite this background, Dr Livio described the discovery of the essay
as a "great surprise".
He told the BBC's Inside Science programme: "[Mr Riley] said, 'I would
like you to take a look at something.' He gave me a copy of this essay
by Churchill. I saw the title, Are We Alone in the Universe? and I
said, 'What? Churchill wrote about something like this?'"
Dr Livio says the wartime leader reasoned like a scientist about the
likelihood of life on other planets.
Churchill's thinking mirrors many modern arguments in astrobiology -
the study of the potential for life on other planets. In his essay, the
former prime minister builds on the Copernican Principle - the idea
that human life on Earth shouldn't be unique given the vastness of the
Universe.
Churchill defined life as the ability to "breed and multiply" and noted
the vital importance of liquid water, explaining: "all living things of
the type we know require [it]."
More than 50 years before the discovery of exoplanets, he considered
the likelihood that other stars would host planets, concluding that a
large fraction of these distant worlds "will be the right size to keep
on their surface water and possibly an atmosphere of some sort". He
also surmised that some would be "at the proper distance from their
parent sun to maintain a suitable temperature".
Churchill also outlined what scientists now describe as the "habitable"
or "Goldilocks" zone - the narrow region around a star where it is
neither too hot nor too cold for life.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Churchill supported the
development of game-changing technologies such as radar
Correctly, the essay predicts great opportunities for exploration of
the Solar System.
"One day, possibly even in the not very distant future, it may be
possible to travel to the Moon, or even to Venus and Mars," Churchill
wrote.
But the politician concluded that Venus and Earth were the only places
in the Solar System capable of hosting life, whereas we now know that
icy moons around Jupiter and Saturn are promising targets in the search
for extra-terrestrial biology. However, such observations are
forgivable given scientific knowledge at the time of writing.
In an apparent reference to the troubling events unfolding in Europe,
Churchill wrote: "I for one, am not so immensely impressed by the
success we are making of our civilisation here that I am prepared to
think we are the only spot in this immense universe which contains
living, thinking creatures, or that we are the highest type of mental
and physical development which has ever appeared in the vast compass of
space and time."
Churchill was a prolific writer: in the 1920s and 30s, he penned
popular science essays on topics as diverse as evolution and fusion
power. Mr Riley, director of the Churchill Museum, believes the essay
on alien life was written at the former prime minister's home in
Chartwell in 1939, before World War II broke out.
It may have been informed by conversations with the wartime leader's
friend, Lindemann, who was a physicist, and might have been intended
for publication in the News of the World newspaper.
It was also written soon after the 1938 US radio broadcast by Orson
Welles dramatising The War of the Worlds by HG Wells. The radio
programme sparked a panic when it was mistaken by some listeners for a
real news report about the invasion of Earth by Martians.
Dr Livio told BBC News that there were no firm plans to publish the
article because of issues surrounding the copyright. However, he said
the Churchill Museum was working to resolve these so that the
historically important essay can eventually see the light of day.
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-38985425