SCIENTISTS FIND LIFE IN SPACE RISKY BUSINESS

Announcing last week that evidence of life on Mars may have been found was a risky step for the scientists involved, says Dr. Peter Roopnarine, a member of the biology faculty at Southeast Missouri State University.

"It's sticking your neck out and saying, `I've discovered something that's going to change the world.

It's putting your reputation on the line."

Dr. Harley Rutledge, who retired form the physics department at Southeast three years ago, took that challenge in the 1970s.

Rutledge investigated reports of UFO sightings, many of them in the Piedmont area, at a time when most scientists scoffed at the very idea.

Since then, a respected Harvard psychologist has written a book about his patients' memories of being abducted by aliens, Carl Sagan asked us to consider the possibilities offered by a universe containing billions and billions of planets, and Trekkies take those planets' inhabitants for granted.

Now, science could be on the verge of proving what the UFO believers took on faith -- that we are not alone, no matter how simple-minded our relatives may be.

"If the results are verified, it is a turning point in human history," Sagan told the Gannett News Service after last week's announcement.

Rutledge has all but stopped talking about his UFO studies, which led to the publication of his 1981 book "Project Identification," published by Prentice-Hall.

He has found himself between a meteorite and a hard place. "The scientists on one side don't respect me ... And on the other hand, people interested in UFOs can get out of their gourds. It's something they think is going to change the world and be very exciting."

Rutledge saw his first UFO one night in 1973 on a trip to Piedmont with a colleague and their wives. He returned to Piedmont the following week in an airplane piloted by one of his students, Drake Kambitch.

They saw a light appear atop Clark's Mountain, 2 miles east of Piedmont, he says. When they turned toward the light it disappeared.

Another light then appeared 7 miles to the right of the plane, Rutledge says. "I had Drake fly toward it and I was looking at it with binoculars. It kind of undulated," he said.

They were flying a mile above the light when it suddenly shot up and out of sight at a speed Rutledge has calculated at approximately 7,200 mph.

The researchers returned the following night and saw more lights. "I got excited then," he says. "Two nights in a row. I said, `This is something that's real.'"

In all, Rutledge has documented 178 UFO experiences of his own, a few that occurred in his own yard.

"I concluded there are plenty of UFOs and things going on that are not normal," he said. "I don't have to argue with anybody about that."

Sightings of UFO's in the Piedmont area have dwindled since their heyday of the 1970s. And Rutledge is retired and no longer chasing after lights.

But when they see a UFO, people still call him.

Only months ago, two women who have a cabin in the Piedmont area reported to him that they'd seen a big saucer.

Rutledge is "somewhat excited" about the possibility that life has been found on Mars. But like any good scientist, he says, "They have a little more work to do on it."