Winston Churchill Asked `Are We Alone in the Universe?' He Also Wrote on

[Garrison L. Hilliard]

By Stav Ziv On 2/18/17 at 8:59 AM

Shortly before Nazi Germany invaded Poland and launched World War II,
Winston Churchill wrote an essay that asked "Are We Alone in the
Universe?" For the next several years, as he led the United Kingdom
through the war, it's unlikely he had much time to continue musing
about the possibility of extraterrestrial life.

But when the great statesman and iconic leader--short and
round-faced
with a bowler hat often atop his balding crown--retired in 1955
after a second go as the British prime minister, he had the chance to
turn his
attention to painting as well as to writings he'd begun before the
war,
including his famous four-volume work, A History of the
English-Speaking Peoples, and three essays on science that, it
appears,
have never been published.

Mario Livio, an astrophysicist and best-selling author, wrote about
the
recently unearthed "Are We Alone in the Universe?" in a [38]piece
published Wednesday in the science journal Nature. Some of the
original
typewritten pages of Churchill's essay [39]went up on display at the
National Churchill Museum on Thursday afternoon.


"The thing that stunned me immediately is the title of the article,"
Livio tells Newsweek. "Because I just couldn't believe that
Churchill
would write an article on a topic like this. I knew that he had an
interest in science, but most of what I knew was vis-`a-vis the war
effort."

But Churchill's interest in science was broader and deeper than
weapons
and warfare. Livio--whose next book Why? What Makes Us Curious
(Simon &
Schuster) is due out on July 11--was astounded not only by
Churchill's
curiosity, but also by his logic as he approached a question
scientists
are still trying to answer today. The full text of the essays cannot
yet be made public because of copyright issues, but Livio describes
"Are We Alone in the Universe?" in his Nature piece and compares it
to
current thinking. In pondering the possibility of life beyond Earth,
Churchill tries to define life, lays out the necessary conditions
(such
as water) and describes what is now called the "habitable zone" or
"Goldilocks zone"--the distance from a star that is neither too hot
nor
too cold to sustain life. He looks at candidates in our own solar
system (Mars and Venus, in addition to Earth), discusses the need
for
an atmosphere and gravity and asks whether there might be planets
around other stars that could harbor life.

"I find all of this truly amazing, coming from someone who is not a
scientist," Livio says. Churchill didn't come up with anything
entirely
novel scientifically and there were places he was slightly off,
Livio
says. But unlike today, where a simple Google search could pull up a
trove of sources, "there really wasn't that much information at the
time," Livio says. "Most ordinary people, even the ones who were
interested in the subject, were more fed by the science fiction
literature than by the actual science. The fact that he knew as much
as
he knew was not usual."

Discovering 'Hidden' Essays

The essay, along with two others, recently resurfaced at the
National
Churchill Museum at Westminster College, a small liberal arts school
in
Fulton, Missouri. It's where, on March 5, 1946, Churchill stood with
President Harry S. Truman and famously declared that "an iron
curtain has descended across the continent." In the 1960s, the college
decided
to commemorate that significant visit with a library and museum
devoted
to Churchill.

"Since 1969 we've been a depository for Churchill papers,
belongings,
artifacts, paintings," says Timothy Riley, the director and chief
curator of the museum. Riley first noticed the essays in the fall of
2014, as he was preparing an exhibit of Churchill's paintings. He
went
through four boxes donated to the museum in the 1980s by Wendy Reves
after the death of her husband and Churchill's publisher, Emery
Reves.
Early in his retirement, Churchill would spend time at the Reves's
villa in the south of France, painting and writing. The contents of
the
boxes were cataloged but no one looked closely at these documents
until
Riley picked them back up this past summer.

"People call them the lost essays. That's a bit much. They were just
hidden for awhile," Riley says, explaining that there are also
earlier
versions of the essays from the 1930s at Churchill College in
Cambridge, England. Riley says Churchill made a few updates to the
essays while retired and on the Riviera in the 1950s. As far as he
knows, they've never been published, examined by scientists or
discussed in a forum as public as Nature.

"The prose just rings--it's very Churchillian. His command of
language
is very clear," Riley says. "His command of science and argument was
also extremely acute." Riley was in awe, he says, but not entirely
surprised. "The more you learn about his skills and his curiosity,
his
vision, his ability not to be afraid to make mistakes, his
resilience,
nothing can really be quite shocking," Riley says. "So when I saw
these
essays I kind of smiled and thought, `There he goes again.'"

Riley decided to share the essays with scientists to "vouch for the
veracity of Churchill's claims," he says. He gave Livio a copy of
the
11-page "Are We Alone in the Universe?" when the astrophysicist was
on
campus this past September to give a talk, and passed the others on
to
Westminster faculty. He says we will likely hear more about them in
the
coming months.

The essay "Mysteries of the Body" is about human biology, Riley
says,
giving Newsweek a preview. "It talks about chromosomes and cells and
how they divide and increase and multiply. How cells require water and
liquid and oxygen." The third essay, "River of Life," is about
evolution. Riley reads the opening over the phone: "Opinions vary
about
how our world came into being. Most scientists, however, appear to
prefer the idea that together with other planets, it was formed from
gases dragged out of the sun by the approach of some errant star."
The
essay goes on to discuss evolution. "It's something that a statesman
and leader today, it's a topic they tend to avoid," Riley says, "or
have very strong opinions about that have nothing to do with
science."

'Heed Churchill's Example'

While Churchill displayed an impressive capacity and enthusiasm for
scientific thinking, it was never divorced from his other areas of
expertise. "Here is a person who witnessed the disastrous effects of
the atomic bombs," Livio says. "He clearly realized that science can
do great things, and he was a great advocate and was very passionate.
But
he also realized that science can do very bad things," he adds. "He
wanted scientists not to be operating in a moral vacuum."

The other timely lesson here, both Livio and Riley emphasize, is the
importance of science as a basis for decisions our leaders make.
Livio
reminds readers that Churchill was the first British prime minister
to
hire a science advisor, employing the physicist Frederick Lindemann.
"Particularly given today's political landscape, elected leaders
should
heed Churchill's example: appoint permanent science advisers and
make
good use of them," he writes in Nature, and adds over the phone:
"There
are all these challenges to humanity, from climate change to
diseases
to famine that require input from science."

Riley agrees. "Anything we can do to share the importance of having
good leaders be well-versed in science is a good thing," he says.
"I'm
hopeful we can add to that conversation. Or Churchill can help
remind
us of that."

If only American politicians read Nature. Some of them could
certainly use a reminder. Or a revelation.

http://www.newsweek.com/winston-churchill-asked-are-we-alone-universe-he-also-wrote-biology-evolution-558298