Churchill’s scientific papers reveal an even greater politician than we thought | Graham Farmelo
Surprising stories about Winston Churchill just keep on coming. He has long been praised for his courage, wisdom, eloquence and many other qualities, but people have been amazed to learn this week that he was also a scientific visionary.
The revelation comes from the US National Churchill Museum in Missouri, where the astrophysicist Mario Livio uncovered Churchill's "lost" 1939 essay about the possible existence of alien life, titled Are We Alone in the Universe? It demonstrates a remarkably high level of scientific literacy and far-sightedness, Livio points out. Yet this is only part of a much bigger story, too long neglected. Churchill had a long career as a topical science writer and he appreciated the importance of new breakthroughs to the development of civilisation better than any other leading western political leader of the past century.
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