Frank Drake Lecture

The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence

Frank Drake

Dr. Frank Drake, world leader in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), will talk at the University of Washington on May 2 at 7 p.m. in Kane Hall 120. Dr. Drake is famous for formulating an equation which estimates the number of civilizations in the Milky Way Galaxy that would be in a position to communicate with the Earth. He'll be talking about the Drake Equation and about recent developments in SETI.

As you can imagine, the number of factors and uncertainties in the Drake Equation are numerous. In short, it really involves the answers to a long series of questions. How many stars are found in the Galaxy? How many planets per star? What fraction of planets can possibly harbor life? Of those, what fraction ever develop life? What fraction of life-bearing planets develop intelligent life forms which produce a technology for sending intentional, purposeful signals? Finally, how long do such civilizations last? Dr. Drake's talk will present the latest discoveries and future plans for observations that relate to the fundamental issue of life beyond the Earth.

Dr. Drake has made many important contributions to astronomy over his distinguished career at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Cornell University and the University of California Santa Cruz. He was director of the 1000-foot diameter radio telescope at Arecibo Puerto Rico, where segments of the movie Contact were filmed. Drake and Carl Sagan designed the plaque sent on the Pioneer spacecraft to describe our civilization and its location to whomever may find it. Drake remains an active member of the scientific staff at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, CA. The Institute is building the world's largest search engine for intentional radio signals, the Paul G. Allen Telescope Array. Drake was a part of the team which conceived this state-of-the-art instrument.