Author:
Kellermann Kenneth I.,Bouton Ellen N.,Brandt Sierra S.
Abstract
AbstractIn the shadows of the struggles surrounding the construction of the 140 Foot Radio Telescope, Frank Drake, NRAO’s newest and youngest scientist, carried out a small observing project to detect radio signals from nearby stars that would indicate the present of extraterrestrial intelligent life. Naming his program “Project Ozma,” after the mythical princess of the Land of Oz, Drake observed two nearby stars, Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani. This project, the first modern Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), captured the imagination of the public and scientific communities alike. In the following decades, other investigators initiated a variety of SETI programs of ever-increasing capability at NRAO and elsewhere. NASA began a major SETI program, but it became mired in controversy over whether searching for intelligent life in the Universe is a proper scientific pursuit or should be relegated to the realm of science fiction. While no confirmable evidence for extraterrestrial intelligent life has yet been found, the discovery of the widespread existence of other planetary systems combined with the vastly improved sensitivity of radio telescopes has reinvigorated SETI research, and the exciting promise of detection continues to attract the attention of new generations of astronomers and the public.
Publisher
Springer International Publishing
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