by Perry McCarney

Created on: June 06, 2009   Last Updated: November 08, 2009

It IS rocket science! But fortunately we do not need to be conversant with the technical specifications of spacecraft propulsion systems to understand the rationale behind Enrico Fermi's (1901-1954) question "Don't you ever wonder where everybody is?" The question is generally stated as "Where is everybody?" or "Where are they?" these days, but Herbert York (1921-2009), who was present at the lunch, at the Fuller Lodge in Los Alamos, back in the summer of 1950 when Fermi asked it, recalls the longer version.

York recollects that Fermi enjoyed asking rhetorical questions at these lunches and then offering possible answers. Fermi was the builder of the first nuclear reactor in 1942 and a leading light of the Manhattan Project, which produced the atomic bombs that forced Japan's surrender to end World War II. When he posed this seemingly simple question everyone at the table knew he was referring to extraterrestrials. His fellow "rocket" scientists also understood what lay behind it. That basis and the question itself have come to be known as the Fermi Paradox.

Essentially, Fermi was asking why we do not already know of extraterrestrial civilizations if they exist. Why we haven't been visited by automated or "manned" spacecraft, or have evidence of them. Remember that this conversation took place just at the start of the whole modern UFO debate. What is now referred to as the Roswell UFO Incident occurred in 1947, but may have been unknown to them; it didn't really become prominent and controversial until the late 1970s. The basis for the question has to do with the physics and structure of the Universe, the Fermi Paradox might be phrased as "If the age and size of the Universe is as it seems, then there should be many extraterrestrial civilizations. So why do we have no evidence supporting this hypothesis?" But let's just consider our galaxy, the Milky Way.

The Milky Way galaxy consists of between 80 and 400 billion stars, with 250 billion the generally accepted consensus. These stars are spread through all stages of their lifespans. While many may be younger than our star Sol's 4.6 billion years, many are much older. The Universe is estimated at 13.7 billion years old, and the oldest star found so far within the Milky Way, HE 1523-0901, is 13.2 billion years old. From the center of our galaxy to the outer rim is between 50,000 and 60,000 light years; the Solar System is in the Orion Arm, about 28,000 light years from the center. We need to use light years

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