From mysterious lights in the sky to bizarre signals from distant stars, history is full of moments when scientists and the public alike thought, “It must be extraterrestrials!” only to discover a perfectly natural explanation later. This class includes a whirlwind tour of 20 fascinating cases, such as crop circles, Tabby’s Star and the “face” on Mars, where the truth turned out to be stranger (and more satisfying) than fiction. This course is part science, part detective story. Bring your curiosity — and leave your tinfoil hat at home!
Brand Fortner is a teaching professor in physics at NC State University and adjunct professor of physics at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is the founder of two software companies and previously held positions at NASA, NCSA and Johns Hopkins University.
Shared by OLLI at NCSU
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