Frank Drake, Astronomer Famed For Contributions To SETI, Has Died (arstechnica.com) 20
On Friday, the family of astronomer Frank Drake announced that he passed away peacefully at 92 in his California home, near the site of his final academic position at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Ars Technica reports: Drake made a number of contributions to radio astronomy, including serving as director of the Arecibo radio telescope facility. But Drake is probably best known for an equation that bears his name and his subsequent involvement in SETI efforts. His equation was the first significant attempt to estimate the probability of intelligent extraterrestrial life. [...] His most prominent contribution in this area was the formulation of what's now known as the Drake equation. It's purportedly a calculation -- plug in the probabilities of a handful of things like the frequency of exoplanets around stars and the probability of life forming spontaneously, and out would pop the overall number of intelligent civilizations in our galaxy. [...]
Drake first presented his equation in 1961, and he maintained an interest in the question of extraterrestrial life throughout his career. While at Arecibo, he was involved in a project that beamed a message from that facility to a cluster of stars. He also helped craft two messages sent with our first hardware that was expected to leave the Solar System: a plaque on Pioneer 10 and 11 and gold records placed on the Voyager probes. He was also involved with the SETI institute and served on its board of trustees.
Drake first presented his equation in 1961, and he maintained an interest in the question of extraterrestrial life throughout his career. While at Arecibo, he was involved in a project that beamed a message from that facility to a cluster of stars. He also helped craft two messages sent with our first hardware that was expected to leave the Solar System: a plaque on Pioneer 10 and 11 and gold records placed on the Voyager probes. He was also involved with the SETI institute and served on its board of trustees.
RIP (Score:5, Insightful)
May we all make to 92 doing what we love.
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the truth about alien contact
The government isn't hiding anything about alien contact. That's why the issue K-1 visas. Foreign chics are hot!
It's a crime.
That isn't because she's foreign, pervert. Find somebody your own age.
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When reality doesn't conform to your wishful fantasies, it doesn't mean someone is lying to you.
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Sadly our governments won't tell us the truth about alien contact.
That's true. They keep acting like there are alien UFOs to get funding, when their evidence is provably a bunch of sensor artifacts.
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For any of us who've investigated pernicious hardware or software false alerts, deducing exactly what caused the alert or the "fuzzy blobs" can be a nightmare, aggravated by managers who have their own pet theories and take your rare measurements as proof.
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That's true. They keep acting like there are alien UFOs to get funding, when their evidence is provably a bunch of sensor artifacts.
Wait you mean that "tic tac" ufo is nothing but a sensor artifact! But it was on foxnews, Tucker Carlson himself has been touting it as true for three years. So it must be true...
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Hi there, I'm from the Government. I can truthfully say that the aliens have landed and we are now opening diplomatic relations. There, now do you believe us?
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Anyone who has worked for the gov't (or any large org) knows it is near impossible for any conspiracy to extend beyond 3 or 4 people for any length of time.
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The odds of finding ET (Score:2)
RIP Drake (Score:2)
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All part of God's Plan.
Simpler equation. (Score:3)
From The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy [google.com], The Universe [google.com]:
4. Population: none.
It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them to be in. However, not every one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. Any finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so the average population of all the planets in the Universe can be said to be zero. From this it follows that the population of the whole Universe is zero, and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination.
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I realize that was tongue in cheek but that contains numerous fallacies:
> simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them to be in.
Scientists don't know if space is infinite (*). That is currently an open question [wikipedia.org] in long list [wikipedia.org] of problems in cosmology.
(*) Technically the universe is both infinite and finite.
> Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds.
An infinite universe could also have infinite inhabited worlds.
While speculation is fun the question will be moot as ear
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I realize that was tongue in cheek but that contains numerous fallacies:
Take it up with Douglas Adams [wikipedia.org] -- in the next life, obviously... :-)
[And in true /. spirit, my original joke post quoting HHGTTG was modded Troll -- sigh.]
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> my original joke post quoting HHGTTG was modded Troll
Stupid mods without a sense of humor continue to wreck /. :-(
He wasn't saying it was aliens (Score:1)
But, it was aliens.
RIP.
Rest in peace (Score:2)
The Drake equation is famous. Rest in peace sir.
But if what this paper states is true, then one of its terms - the probability of life forming spontaneously - is zero.
https://www.math.utep.edu/facu... [utep.edu]