Cosmic book talk draws alien crowd

A strange array of green beings gathered yesterday to celebrate Paul Halpern's new book, The Quest for Alien Planets: Exploring Worlds Outside the Solar System. A stuffed alien doll propped against the microphone greeted the more than 25 people who turned out for the event at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science where Halpern teaches physics, modern physics and a course on the nature of time. "I know many of you have passed many moons and gone through many light years to get here today," said Halpern in welcoming the audience -- many of whom dressed up as aliens. Those attending seemed to moonwalk into the room, wearing aluminum space caps, green painted faces and holding baby aliens by their sides. One of the out-of-this-world characters wore a strainer on her head topped with several stacked soda cans and a blinking red light resembling an antenna. Like the many people who used to dismiss the notion that the world was round, many today reject the possibility that another inhabitable planet exists. Halpern's book, however, attempts to change how people see the universe by mapping important discoveries of the first known world beyond the solar system. Explaining that scientists have found more than a dozen new planets beyond the solar system in the past 12 years, Halpern said, "The discovery makes it all the more likely that we will eventually find intelligent life in space. "Although none of these planets appear to be similar to earth, these discoveries make it all the more likely that soon earth-like planets will be found," he added. Halpern, who is also a Liberal Arts professor at the University of the Arts, has written several other books on outer space, including, The Cyclical Serpent: Prospects for an Ever-Repeating Universe, Cosmic Wormhole: The Search for Interstellar Shortcuts and Time Journey: A Search for Cosmic Destiny and Meaning. On the jacket of The Quest for Alien Planets, his most recent book, Halpern reminds readers that no one ever knows when a sudden disaster might force an emergency evacuation from earth. In addition to Halpern's talk, many participants were drawn to the event's unusual refreshments -- including alien punch, a green cake and a fruit salad surrounding a miniature alien.