Between Scientific Fields & Belief Systems

Koushik Das

June 4

Nowadays, Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) are now known as Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena as nothing has been found after years of making controversial claims. It became necessary to change the term, because scientists have failed to find the aliens so far. Of course, they received signals from alien sources on various occasions. However, the astronomers have realised their mistakes most of the time, and corrected them.

Astronomers made such a mistake on November 28, 1967. A signal was coming from a distant planet at regular intervals! Antony Hewish (May 11, 1924 - September 13, 2021), a Radio Astronomer and a Professor of University of Cambridge, and his PhD student Jocelyn Bell Burnell (born July 15, 1943) received that signal. Later, the two astronomers discovered that the signal did not come from a star-orbiting planet, but from the star itself. Such stars are called Pulsars (or Pulsating Stars) that send light-signals at very specific intervals.

Hewish, together with fellow Radio Astronomer Martin Ryle, won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1974 for his role in the discovery of pulsars. Later, the pulsar was named Little Green Men (LGM). Once, aliens were called by that name. Not every time astronomers made new discoveries. Many signals could not even be traced. On August 15, 1977, Ohio State University Radio Astronomer Jerry Ehman was surprised to receive a signal. This is known as the Wow signal in the history of astronomy as Ehman had written this word next to the sign. Well, scientists never received this signal later!

In 1950, Nobel Laureate Physicist Enrico Fermi (September 29, 1901 - November 28, 1954) reportedly asked Scientist Edward Taylor (August 3, 1923 - November 22, 2017) about the probability of seeing a UFO in the next decade. Taylor replied: "Ten to the power minus six." In other words, one in 1,000,000! If the explanation of Charles Robert Darwin (February 12, 1809 - April 19, 1882) was correct and if electrical currents are confirmed to exist in prehistoric chemicals, then the emergence of life on planets other than the Earth might have taken place. In that case, the aliens would come out on search of life at places other than the areas they were dwelling in! In an article published in the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1975, US Astrophysicist Michael H Hart (born April 27, 1932) mentioned that a long journey in space was impossible and there were no ETs.

Now, the best tool for finding ETs is the Drake Equation. US Astrophysicist and Astrobiologist Frank Donald Drake (May 28, 1930 - September 2, 2022) developed the Drake Equation that attempts to quantify the number of intelligent lifeforms that could potentially be discovered. This equation purports to yield the number N of technically advanced civilisations in the Milky Way Galaxy as a function of other astronomical, biological and psychological factors.

Like science, philosophy is knowledge based on facts, too! American Planetary Scientist John Wolfe explained the relation between Science and Philosophy in a different manner. He reportedly said that "if there is no one in the universe, then we are God"! This philosophy is not only about glory, but also about responsibility!