In what sounds to be a new science-fiction theme, a top British scientist has claimed that all humans are aliens who have come to earth from outer space.
Prof. Chandra Wickramasinghe, an Asian-origin astrobiologist at Cardiff University, said his research “overwhelmingly supported” the view that human life started from outside the planet.
According to Prof. Wickramasinghe, the first “seeds of life” were deposited on earth from space some 3,800 million years ago.
He claimed that “microbes from outer space arrived on earth from comets, which then multiplied and seeded” to form human life, The Telegraph reported.
“Yes, we are all aliens — we share a cosmic ancestry,” Prof. Wickramasinghe said.
“Each time a new planetary system forms a few surviving microbes find their way into comets. These then multiply and seed other planets.
“We are thus part of a connected chain that extends over a large volume of the cosmos. Evidence is pointing inexorably in this direction.”
Prof. Wickramasinghe said his research, published in the Cambridge University’s International Journal of Astrobiology , showed that life is transferred from planet to planet over billions of years.
According to his theory, all life on earth is brought by comets hitting the planet. He believes comets hit planets and pushed living matter out into space.
Some survived and got transferred to new planets over a timescale of millions and millions of years, he said.
However, the professor — who along with his late colleague Sir Fred Hoyle championed the so-called “panspermia” theory from the 1960s — admits that his theory doesn’t explain how life actually began in the first place.
“Evidence from astronomy overwhelmingly supports the view that life did not start on earth but was seeded from outside,” Prof. Wickramasinghe said. “Although we have no definite knowledge how life started in the first place, once started its spread in the cosmos and survival is inevitable.”
Published - February 03, 2010 04:17 pm IST