Humans will find alien life in the next 30 years says Nobel prize winner
A Nobel Prize winning 'planet hunter' who discovered the first planet outside of our solar system predicts humans will discover alien life in the next 30 years.
Astronomer Professor Didier Queloz, 52, from Switzerland, says he is 'convinced' that we are not alone in the universe.
The Cambridge University professor won a Nobel Prize on Tuesday for his work as a 'planet hunter', having discovered hundreds of planets orbiting suns outside of our solar system.
Speaking after the win at the Science Media Centre in London he said: 'I can't believe we are the only living entity in the universe,' The Telegraph reported.
"There are just way to many planets, way too many stars, and the chemistry is universal. The chemistry that led to life has to happen elsewhere. So I am a strong believer that there must be life elsewhere. Life doesn't just mean a green man coming to you, life started way before animals were crawling on the surface of earth."
He says he is certain that in 100 years time aliens will be known to us but says that it is very 'realistic' that within 30 years scientists could develop a machine to allow us to detect aliens in distant solar systems.
Professor Queloz was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics along with his research partner Dr Michel Mayor, the Swiss duo discovered 51 Pegasi b at the University of Geneva in 1995.
Theirs was the first confirmation of the existence of an exoplanet, which is one which orbits a star other than our Sun. It is now regarded as a pivotal moment in astronomy because no planet other than those in our own solar system had ever been found before.
Since the discovery, Professor Queloz has successfully developed the Doppler technique to be more precise, leading to the discovery of further 1,900 or so confirmed exoplanets. 1/ 10th of those were discovered by Professor Queloz himself.
The other half of the award was given to James Peebles, from Princeton University, US, "for theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology."
Professor Queloz said: "I do hope that this Nobel Prize will help give a further boost for this fascinating question when we think about life on another planet."
He added that he was convinced of life on other planets and that scientists would not be searching for it, if they did not think it existed. Both NASA and the European Space Agency are officially searching for life on other planets..
The now Nobel Prize laureate missed the call from the committee informing him of his win while busy in a meeting with colleagues - leaving it to a press officer from Cambridge to break the news to him.
Professor Queloz said: "This morning I was just a Cambridge professor working with colleagues, and then all of a sudden my life changed entirely."
He added: "I was in a scientific meeting, absolutely focused by the scientific meeting. I know it is the week of Nobel Prize, but I didn't pay attention."
"To tell you the truth, people mentioned the Nobel Prize early on when we made the discovery 20 years ago, and after some time it has been said."
"In a way you get used to it, but also there are so many great discoveries elsewhere and so many programmes, so it tends to fade away from my mind, and I wasn't expecting it all this morning."
"I was not really in the mood, because I was in the mood for the scientific meeting."