SETI

Since its creation, radio was accepted as the primary means of extraterrestrial communication. Since radio waves travel at the speed of light, it has always been logical to assume it to be the easiest method of contact to other worlds. An early twentieth century inventor, Nikola Tesla, quickly became the first man to claim extraterrestrial contact. Tesla was the famous inventor who created electrical power using “AC,” otherwise known as an alternating current. He also felt power could be brought to people via induction, rather than with cables, sending energy through the air as low-frequency radio waves. After creating a 60-meter-tall transmitting tower and putting it to use in Colorado, Tesla discovered one evening that he was picking up electrical disturbances. Confused, Tesla attributed these disturbances to communication between planets, and thus appointed himself as the first to have extraterrestrial contact. Today, it is believed that Tesla was hearing “whistlers,” an atmospheric phenomenon that comes from electrical noise created by lightning discharges.
During this same time frame, Guglielmo Marconi had been working hard to make the use of radio practical for distant communication. In 1901, Marconi was able to send a signal across the Atlantic from England to Canada. Though the frequency Marconi was operating at is far too low to penetrate the cosmos, this accomplishment proved radio communication to be worthy of future use in attempting to communicate across worlds. Marconi had now paved the way for the beginnings of SETI.

SETI Begins:
Using the principles already established by Tesla and Marconi, the beginning of SETI on a purely scientific level began with the thoughts of two Cornell physicists, Guiseppe Cocconi and Philip Morrison. In 1959, Cocconi and Morrison published an article in Nature in which they claimed that communication with nearby stars was possible using modern technology. Realizing that our galaxy is much older than our solar system, the two understood that civilizations could exist that are much older and more advanced than our own. With this in mind, it seemed logical that these societies might have the use of electromagnetic waves to communicate with other star systems such as us. In order to locate these societies, Cocconi and Morrison suggested the use of large radio telescopes aimed at these nearby stars. But at what frequency would one expect intelligent species to use as a signal?
Cocconi and Morrison concluded that 1,420 MHz, the frequency that neutral hydrogen gas produces natural radio static, would be the most logical choice. Since hydrogen is the most common element in the universe, it made sense to assume that distant intelligence would take close note of this frequency on their telescopes, and potentially use it for interstellar communication.
Coccini and Morrison hoped their ideas would spur the interest of many radio astronomers. After approaching many English astronomers but generating little interest, American astronomer Frank Drake stepped to the forefront. Drake, who had been working at the Green Bank radio observatory in West Virginia, had reached many of the same conclusions that Coccini and Morrison made public. Using their principles, Drake began Project Ozma in 1960, his privately run, two-week search for 1,420 MHz radio signals. Drake targeted his telescope at two nearby (12 light years away), Sun-like stars in Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani. In addition to this, many world-renowned scientists came together for a meeting at Green Bank in 1960 to discuss the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe. Both Morrison and Drake were in attendance along with the famous Carl Sagan and Nobel Prize winning chemist Melvin Calvin. Among other issues discussed, the Drake equation was created at this meeting, which put SETI in a quantifiable context, rather than one of speculation. The compilation of such a respected group of scientists proved to the world that the search for life in the universe was no longer an embarrassing hobby, but a legitimate and important project.
Though Project Ozma failed to generate conclusive evidence of extraterrestrial signals, it undoubtedly spawned NASA’s development of more sophisticated SETI programs. NASA eventually developed specialized receiving systems that attached to older radio telescopes. By 1992, NASA was fully into their SETI project. However, only one year passed before Congress voted to bring the program to a halt. Congressional leaders began to believe that too much money was being put into these NASA projects, which yielded few results. The patience of Congress has obviously been quite thin. Nicholas Friedman Gavin Cree