Searching for Life in Outer Space
Frank Drake's quest for extraterrestrial intelligence spans decades
29 November 2010
In 1960, Frank Drake conducted the first search for extraterrestrial intelligence, a project now known as SETI.
Spellbound
Orson Wells' famous War of the Worlds radio broadcast in 1938 scared millions of Americans into believing earth was being invaded by Martians. But not a young Frank Drake. Rather than being fearful at the thought of aliens, he was captivated.
"My father told me there were other planets in space like the earth and this excited me," he says. "I was eight years old and this meant that a planet like where I lived with people like me and houses like me and eating food like I ate. The idea of there being other creatures in space is fascinating."
That fascination triggered many questions.
"It's the basis of so much exciting science fiction and the most popular movies ever made. It's just a subject which excites our curiosity. What would those other creatures be like? What would their histories be? Do they have technologies we don't have which we could benefit from? All of those things were the reasons that interested me."
Frank Drake, in 1964, at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia.
Following his fascination
Drake pursued his boyhood interest and studied radio astronomy at Cornell and Harvard.
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