Thursday, January 3, 2008

In Search of Extraterrestrial Civilizations (Alien Hunters)

In today's posting we take a historical perspective concerning the endeavour to find other minds elsewhere in the Cosmos. Man has long speculated about the existence of intelligent life beyond the bounds of Earth. But with the advent of modern astronomy toward the end of the 19th century, old myths were transformed into compelling new theories about alien civilizations. Alien Hunters documents the history of our search for extra-terrestrial life, explaining the technologies used, introducing the pioneers and revealing the most promising discoveries. Experts like Steven J. Dick, Historian of Science at the U.S. Naval Observatory, talk about bizarre 19th century plans to attract alien attention by creating giant canals of flame in the Sahara or enormous earthworks in Siberia. Frank Drake, President of SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence), provides a modern perspective. And examine mysterious signals from outer space that cannot be satisfactorily explained by any natural phenomenon. It's an inside look at the most ambitious outreach program ever - the search for alien intelligence.

Another great source of information concerning the history of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence is writer David H. Szondy's exciting and wonderful website Tales of Future Past (
Life On Other Worlds).

Here are five video clips from this exciting program that aired on The History Channel.

Postscript: Through the kind assistance of Ed Minchau (of Space Video of the Day and Space Feeds Fame) I was able to revise this posting and fit all five video clips into one frame. Thanks very much Ed. Your robot guy and Space feeds site still provide are a tremendous source of inspiration to me. Thanks for the many wonderful videos you posted in the past. Please continue your wonderful work.