Alien contact: who will be the first to know?

The news will hit a number of individuals before the general public is informed

1 The discoverer

An extraterrestrial signal is detected! The discoverer will need to verify the signal several times before revealing to others that it might be a sign of intelligent alien life.

2 Seth Shostak, SETI Institute

As director of the SETI Institute, Shostak is likely to be one of the heads of the institutions that are asked to independently verify the signal.

3 The president

Once confirmed, national authorities will have to be informed of the signal. In the US that would likely include the president, and in the UK, the prime minister.

4 António Guterres, secretarygeneral of the UN

Broader organisations – including the United Nations – can now start to be told about the groundbreaking new discovery.

5 You

Last, but by no means least, it will be time to publicly and officially inform the world of this amazing discovery – if it hasn’t been leaked by the media already.