Is Anyone Out There? The Scientific Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence

A pioneer in the study of extraterrestrial intelligence chronicles his thirty-year search for intelligent life in the universe, which culminated in the NASA-backed SETI Microwave Observing Project.

Drake (astronomy, Cornell Univ.) has spent over half his life looking for scientific evidence to support his hypothesis that alien civilizations exist and are probably trying to say "hello" to their neighbors. Drake began his search in 1959 with Project Ozma, using a radio telescope he set up in the hills of West Virginia. NASA will join the hunt in the fall of 1992 with its SETI Microwave Observing Project, marking the first coordinated effort to search for interstellar signals. Drake's memoirs, written with science journalist Sobel, provide a fascinating account of a scientist not afraid to probe the fringes of "respectable" science or to enlist the support of colleagues like Carl Sagan, Freeman Dyson, and Philip Morrison. While maintaining a skeptical attitude toward UFOs, he uses the "Drake Equation" to speculate that there may be as many as 100 million advanced extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy alone. David W. Swift's SETI Pioneers and First Contact , edited by Ben Bova and Byron Preiss (both LJ 4/1/90) nicely complement Drake's autobiography. Recommended for most libraries.
- Gary D. Barber, SUNY at Fredonia Lib.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.