Virginia Trimble on Pyramids and Missing Extraterrestrials

Did you ever wonder if there was any 'real science' behind the subject matter of shows like 'Ancient Aliens'?

There is! Yesterday I came across these two articles[1][2] by Dr. Virginia Trimble: UC Irvine astronomy professor and science historian. The first article was written by Dr. Trimble when she was still an undergrad at UCLA. It detailed her calculations showing that the constellation Orion was visible through the 'so called air shaft' of Cheops pyramid when it was constructed.

The second article was an excellently written and fun to read review of the a 1979 "Symposium on the Implications of Our Failure to Observe Extraterrestrials " The symposium was attended by luminaries such as Freeman Dyson and Bracewell. Among other topics, there were discussions of how many planets were available that could support life. It gives a nice historical perspective on today's post from John Baez [3]

References

1. "Astronomical Investigation Concerning the so-called Air-Shafts of Cheops's Pyramid"
https://books.google.com/books?id=uo5NPBUmQngC&lpg=PT317&ots=k-OXENmZwz&dq=Astronomical%20Investigation%20Concerning%20the%20So-Called%20Air-Shafts%20of%20Cheops'%20Pyramid&pg=PT317#v=onepage&q=Astronomical%20Investigation%20Concerning%20the%20So-Called%20Air-Shafts%20of%20Cheops'%20Pyramid&f=false

2. "Where Are They? A Report on a Symposium on the Implications of Our Failure to Observe Extraterrestrials "
http://www.bigear.org/CSMO/PDF/CS06/cs06p20.pdf

3. John Baez on Earth-like planets near Red Dwarfs
https://plus.google.com/117663015413546257905/posts/4GZQRhEh3is

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