Thomas Zurbuchen believes in extraterrestrial life
Thomas Zurbuchen would bet his car that extraterrestrial life exists
Keystone / Anthony Anex
Swiss space researcher Thomas Zurbuchen would bet his car that extraterrestrial life exists. It simply hasn’t been found yet, he says.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA/ts
“The idea that there is life in only one place in this huge universe is difficult,” the former NASA research chief told 20Minuten.ch. “We will soon find extraterrestrial life.”
He finds his car an appropriate bet, because “if I were 100% sure, I would bet my house”. The car, a mid-range car, is dear to him, but also not as important as a roof over his head, the 55-year-old says.
The head of the Space Department at the federal technology institute ETH Zurich wants Switzerland to become a renowned centre for space research. He started his new job at ETH Zurich a few weeks ago.
Before that, Zurbuchen spent 24 years in the US. “I feel like an immigrant. The culture is different, and there is a lot I don’t understand yet,” he said. For example, he recently wanted to buy something to eat after 10pm, but it was impossible. “All the shops had already closed.”
Zurbuchen also recalls his childhood in the interview, saying he read Globi books back then. Now he will appear in the latest Globi book. However, he has yet to make a guest role in his favourite space series, Star Wars.
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate them into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
Popular Stories
More
Life & Aging
Switzerland no longer wants to foot the bill for ‘suicide tourism’
As a Swiss Abroad, how do you feel about the emergence of more conservative family policies in some US states?
In recent years several US states have adopted more conservative policies on family issues, abortion and education. As a Swiss citizen living there, how do you view this development?
Anti-Muslim sentiment is everywhere, according to Swiss study
This content was published on
This is the conclusion of the first qualitative baseline study published on Thursday by the Swiss Center for Islam and Society.
UN and Switzerland against forced displacement of Palestinians
This content was published on
The UN and the Swiss government are opposed to any forced displacement of Palestinians, as proposed by US President Donald Trump.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.