Embedded Files
What is the Fermi paradox?
What is the Fermi paradox?
The Fermi paradox is named after Enrico Fermi, a scientist best known for overseeing construction of the world’s first nuclear reactor and using it to conduct the first controlled nuclear reaction in 1942.
During a 1950 visit to the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, Fermi and some colleagues were discussing extraterrestrials and interstellar travel over lunch, in conjunction with a cartoon from “The New Yorker” showing aliens stealing New York City trash cans.
As the story goes, Fermi famously asked, “where is everybody?”Â
Three people who were part of the discussion later reported that Fermi was specifically talking about interstellar travel: If aliens exist and are capable of flying between the stars, then they should have visited us already.
Fermi never published any work on his off-the-cuff remark, and died just four years later. However, his question lived on and became known as the Fermi paradox.
ANCIENT STARS IN NGC 6397 NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured the images used to create this composite of globular cluster NGC 6397 in 2004 and 2005. Located 7,800 light-years from Earth, the cluster contains hundreds of thousands of ancient stars.Image: NASA, ESA, Tom M. Brown (STScI), Stefano Casertano (STScI), Jay Anderson (STScI)
Page created on 7/19/2023 2032 Â
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse