Alien encounter may not be happy one, says Nobel Prize winner

August 28, 2012 - Nobel Prize laureate Brian P. Schmidt has said it is probably unwise for human beings to be telling aliens where we are.

"I think it is probably not the smartest thing to tell the aliens where we are, as any encounter with aliens may not be a happy one," said Schmidt during the 28th General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) held here from Aug. 21 to 31.

"Aliens may not be something that we need to worry about. It will be so far away and it takes so long to travel from point A to point B in the universe that it won't be a problem. But it will happen when it happens," said Schmidt, who shared the 2011 Nobel Prize in physics with Saul Perlmutter and Adam Riess for providing evidence that the expansion of the universe is accelerating.


Before their discovery, it was commonly thought that the expansion of the universe was slowing down. However, their findings show that dark energy pushes every galaxy apart and the universe will continue to expand at a quicker pace and eventually fade away.

According to his research, it will be harder to reach another planet in an accelerating universe, meaning it is less likely to meet higher intelligent extraterrestrial life in the future.

"The future of the universe seems to be dark. Things are getting faster and faster. In terms of looking for aliens, it's gonna be quite a challenge. It may never happen. Things like us are probably very rare in the universe," he said.

In 2010, Stephen Hawking, one of world's most famous theoretical physicists, said humans should be extremely cautious of extraterrestrial life and attempts to make contact with alien races is "a little too risky."

Schmidt agrees with Hawking and said humans have more things to worry about. "The reality is that the sun is going to give out on us in about 4 billion years, and is becoming very hot. So in the future about 800 million years from now we need to figure out how to deal with that first."