i think without Frank Drake we are all not here...
Frank Drake was born in Chicago on May 28, 1930 to Richard and Winifred Drake. Raised in Chicago's South Shore with sister, Alma, and brother, Robert, he had a fairly typical childhood.
Always interested in science, he and his friends would spend hours experimenting with motors, radios, and chemistry sets. As his understanding of astronomy and the actual size of the universe grew he began to wonder about the possibility of the existence of other planets and life on those planets. The idea seemed reasonable to him. However, because of the religious convictions of his parents and teachers he never felt comfortable bringing up the subject of extraterrestrial life.
After high school Drake enrolled at Cornell on an ROTC scholarship to study electronics. It was here that he fell in love with astronomy and finally found someone else who was considering the possibilities of life on other planets.
In 1951, during his junior year he attended a lecture by Otto Struve, one of the world's preeminent astrophysicists. Towards the end of a lecture Struve showed that there was mounting evidence that planetary systems had most likely formed around half of the stars in the galaxy. Struve went on to state that life could certainly exist on some of those planets. Finally, Drake had found someone who shared his ideas.
After college he spent the next three years with the Navy to repay his scholarship. Thanks to his electronics degree he ended up as the electronics officer on the USS Albany where he gained invaluable experience operating and fixing the latest high tech electronic equipment.
When his Navy tour ended, Drake headed to Harvard graduate school to study optical astronomy. Fortunately, the only summer position available was in radio astronomy. Because of his electronics experience in the Navy he was a natural fit because the radio astronomy equipment was constantly in need of tweaking and repair. Drake got hooked on radio astronomy and never looked back.
Upon finishing graduate school in 1958 he got a position at the newly founded National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Green Bank, West Virginia. It was here in 1960 that the first search took place. Named Project Ozma by Drake, the search was a two week observation of the stars Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani. At one point during the search a false alarm, which turned out to be a terrestrial signal, caused some excitement. Other than that no signals were detected. Hardly expecting to find evidence of advanced civilizations on the first try the searchers were not disappointed by the result, but were encouraged because the search had finally begun.
In 1961 Drake and J. Peter Pearman, an officer on the Space Science Board of the National Academy of Sciences, organized the first SETI conference. The three day meeting, held at the NRAO, was a small gathering of a dozen or so scientists who had shown an interest in SETI. It was in preparation for this conference that Drake came up with the now famous Drake Equation:
Frank Drake - Biography
SETI: The Drake Equation
"This time is unique in our history, in any civilization's history: the moment of the acquisition of technology. The moment when contact becomes possible."
-Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster), Contact
Contact the Film
and dont forget
Cosmic Search Vol. 1, No. 1
Project Ozma
In 1960, radioastronomer Frank D. Drake, then at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Green Bank, West Virginia, carried out humanity's first attempt to detect interstellar radio transmissions. Project Ozma was named after the queen of L. Frank Baum's imaginary land of Oz -- a place "very far away, difficult to reach, and populated by strange and exotic beings." The stars chosen by Drake for the first SETI search were Tau Ceti in the Constellation Cetus (the Whale) and Epsilon Eridani in the Constellation Eridanus (the River), some eleven light years (66 trillion miles) away. Both stars are about the same age as our sun.
...
One of the most exciting projects that I had the pleasure to be involved with together with Carl was the design of the Pioneer 10 plaque, in 1972. We had three weeks to come up with a message that might conceivably be retrieved by extraterrestrials. Was it perfect? No, but it was a challenge and a project that I look back upon fondly. As with so many of his endeavors, Carl was always interested in looking at the "big picture" questions. This particular picture was only 6 by 9 inches, but it has certainly become one of the century's most enduring graphics. Later, we had a chance to construct a much better message in the form of the Voyager record. It was a special treat to work with Carl on this project, too.
The Pioneer plaque
Happy Birthday Mr Drake, and all the best for the future
Sir Ulli
Frank Drake was born in Chicago on May 28, 1930 to Richard and Winifred Drake. Raised in Chicago's South Shore with sister, Alma, and brother, Robert, he had a fairly typical childhood.
Always interested in science, he and his friends would spend hours experimenting with motors, radios, and chemistry sets. As his understanding of astronomy and the actual size of the universe grew he began to wonder about the possibility of the existence of other planets and life on those planets. The idea seemed reasonable to him. However, because of the religious convictions of his parents and teachers he never felt comfortable bringing up the subject of extraterrestrial life.
After high school Drake enrolled at Cornell on an ROTC scholarship to study electronics. It was here that he fell in love with astronomy and finally found someone else who was considering the possibilities of life on other planets.
In 1951, during his junior year he attended a lecture by Otto Struve, one of the world's preeminent astrophysicists. Towards the end of a lecture Struve showed that there was mounting evidence that planetary systems had most likely formed around half of the stars in the galaxy. Struve went on to state that life could certainly exist on some of those planets. Finally, Drake had found someone who shared his ideas.
After college he spent the next three years with the Navy to repay his scholarship. Thanks to his electronics degree he ended up as the electronics officer on the USS Albany where he gained invaluable experience operating and fixing the latest high tech electronic equipment.
When his Navy tour ended, Drake headed to Harvard graduate school to study optical astronomy. Fortunately, the only summer position available was in radio astronomy. Because of his electronics experience in the Navy he was a natural fit because the radio astronomy equipment was constantly in need of tweaking and repair. Drake got hooked on radio astronomy and never looked back.
Upon finishing graduate school in 1958 he got a position at the newly founded National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Green Bank, West Virginia. It was here in 1960 that the first search took place. Named Project Ozma by Drake, the search was a two week observation of the stars Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani. At one point during the search a false alarm, which turned out to be a terrestrial signal, caused some excitement. Other than that no signals were detected. Hardly expecting to find evidence of advanced civilizations on the first try the searchers were not disappointed by the result, but were encouraged because the search had finally begun.
In 1961 Drake and J. Peter Pearman, an officer on the Space Science Board of the National Academy of Sciences, organized the first SETI conference. The three day meeting, held at the NRAO, was a small gathering of a dozen or so scientists who had shown an interest in SETI. It was in preparation for this conference that Drake came up with the now famous Drake Equation:
Frank Drake - Biography
SETI: The Drake Equation
"This time is unique in our history, in any civilization's history: the moment of the acquisition of technology. The moment when contact becomes possible."
-Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster), Contact
Contact the Film
and dont forget
Cosmic Search Vol. 1, No. 1
Project Ozma
In 1960, radioastronomer Frank D. Drake, then at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Green Bank, West Virginia, carried out humanity's first attempt to detect interstellar radio transmissions. Project Ozma was named after the queen of L. Frank Baum's imaginary land of Oz -- a place "very far away, difficult to reach, and populated by strange and exotic beings." The stars chosen by Drake for the first SETI search were Tau Ceti in the Constellation Cetus (the Whale) and Epsilon Eridani in the Constellation Eridanus (the River), some eleven light years (66 trillion miles) away. Both stars are about the same age as our sun.
...
One of the most exciting projects that I had the pleasure to be involved with together with Carl was the design of the Pioneer 10 plaque, in 1972. We had three weeks to come up with a message that might conceivably be retrieved by extraterrestrials. Was it perfect? No, but it was a challenge and a project that I look back upon fondly. As with so many of his endeavors, Carl was always interested in looking at the "big picture" questions. This particular picture was only 6 by 9 inches, but it has certainly become one of the century's most enduring graphics. Later, we had a chance to construct a much better message in the form of the Voyager record. It was a special treat to work with Carl on this project, too.
The Pioneer plaque
Happy Birthday Mr Drake, and all the best for the future
Sir Ulli
