From the May 30, 1931, issue
By Science News
LIFE IS RARE IN UNIVERSE, ASTRONOMER BELIEVES
Life is a rare phenomenon in the universe, Sir James Jeans, British astronomer, assured the Franklin Institute meeting at which he was presented the Franklin Medal, one of Sciences highest awards.
I leave it to you to be pleased or not, Sir James said, at a large fraction of the life of the universe being concentrated on our planet.
His theory is that the planets were formed by the close approach to the sun of another star that pulled out of the sun by tidal action a great cigar-shaped streamer of gas, which condensed like drops of steam into the planets.