SETI Institute

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SETI Institute

Not to be confused with the SITE Institute
SITE Institute

The Search for International Terrorist Entities Intelligence Group was an organization that tracked the online activity of terrorist organizations....
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The SETI Institute is a not-for-profit organization researching the possibilities of life beyond Earth, a scientific discipline known as astrobiology

Astrobiology

Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe. This interdisciplinary field encompasses the search for habitable environments in our Solar System and Planetary habitability outside our Solar System, the search for evidence of Abiogenesis, life on Mars and other bodies in our Solar Syst...
. The mission of the SETI Institute is to “explore, understand and explain the origin, nature and prevalence of life

Life

Life is a characteristic of organisms that exhibit certain biological processes such as chemical reactions or other events that results in a transformation....
in the universe

Universe

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The SETI Institute is a not-for-profit organization researching the possibilities of life beyond Earth, a scientific discipline known as astrobiology

Astrobiology

Life

Life is a characteristic of organisms that exhibit certain biological processes such as chemical reactions or other events that results in a transformation....
in the universe

Universe

The universe is defined as everything that physically exists: the entirety of space and time, all forms of matter, energy and momentum, and the physical laws and physical constants that govern them....
”. One program is the use of both radio and optical telescopes to search for deliberate signals from extraterrestrial intelligence

Extraterrestrial life

Extraterrestrial life is defined as life which does not originate from Earth. It is the subject of astrobiology and its existence remains hypothetical, because there is no credible evidence of extraterrestrial life which has been generally accepted by the mainstream scientific community....
(SETI). Other research, pursued within the Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, includes the discovery of extrasolar planets, potentials for life on Mars

MARS

In cryptography, MARS is a block cipher that was IBM's submission to the Advanced Encryption Standard process. MARS was selected as an AES finalist in August 1999, after the AES2 conference in March 1999, where it was voted as the fifth and last finalist algorithm....
and other bodies within the Solar System

Solar System

The Solar System consists of the Sun and those Astronomical object bound to it by gravity: the eight planets and five dwarf planets, their 173 known Natural satellite, and billions of Small Solar System body....
, and the habitability of the galaxy

Milky Way

The Milky Way, sometimes called simply the Galaxy, is the galaxy in which the Solar System is located. It is a barred spiral galaxy that is part of the Local Group of galaxies....
(including the study of extremophiles). The SETI Institute’s public outreach efforts include working with teachers and students in promoting science education and the teaching of evolution, working with NASA

NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an agency of the Federal government of the United States, responsible for the nation's public list of space agencies....
on exploration missions such as Kepler

Kepler Mission

The Kepler Mission is a NASA space telescope designed to search for Terrestrial planets orbiting other stars. Using a outer space photometer developed by NASA, it will observe the brightness of over 100,000 stars over 3.5 years to detect periodic Astronomical transit of a star by its planets ....
and SOFIA

Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy

The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy is a joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Center . Universities Space Research Association was awarded the prime contract by NASA in 1996 for development, operation of the observatory and management of the American part while the DSI manages the German part ....
, and producing a weekly science program: Are We Alone?

Are We Alone?

Are We Alone? is the SETI Institute's weekly science radio program, hosted by Senior Astronomer Seth Shostak and Molly Bentley, the Executive producer of the radio show....
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Instruments used by SETI Institute scientists include the Allen Telescope Array

Allen Telescope Array

The Allen Telescope Array , formerly known as the One Hectare Telescope , is a joint effort by the SETI Institute and the Radio Astronomy Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley to construct a radio interferometer that is dedicated to astronomical observations and a simultaneous SETI....
, the radio telescopes at Arecibo

Arecibo Observatory

The Arecibo Observatory is a very sensitive radio telescope located approximately south-southwest from the city of Arecibo, Puerto Rico in Puerto Rico....
, Parkes

Parkes Observatory

The Parkes Observatory is a radio telescope observatory, 20 kilometres north of the town of Parkes, New South Wales, New South Wales, Australia....
, and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory

National Radio Astronomy Observatory

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a FFRDC of the United States National Science Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc for the purpose of radio astronomy....
at Green Bank, the Hubble Space Telescope

Hubble Space Telescope

The Hubble Space Telescope is a Space observatory that was carried into Low Earth orbit STS-31 in April 1990. It is named after the American astronomer Edwin Hubble....
, and the Spitzer Space Telescope

Spitzer Space Telescope

The Spitzer Space Telescope is an infrared space observatory. It is the fourth and final of NASA's Great Observatories program.The planned nominal mission period was to be 2.5 years with a pre-launch expectation that the mission could extend to five or slightly more years until the onboard liquid helium supply was exhausted....
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The SETI Institute was incorporated as a 501(c)(3)

501(c)

501 is a provision of the United States Internal Revenue Code , listing 26 types of non-profit organizations Tax exemption from some Taxation in the United States Income tax in the United States....
California nonprofit organization in 1984 by Thomas Pierson (CEO), and Dr. Jill Tarter

Jill Tarter

Jill Cornell Tarter is an American astronomer and the current wikt:director of the Center for SETI Research, holding the Bernard M. Oliver Chair for SETI at the SETI Institute....
. Financial and leadership support over the life of the SETI Institute has included Carl Sagan

Carl Sagan

Carl Edward Sagan, Ph.D. was an United States astronomer, Astrochemistry, author, and highly successful popularizer of astronomy, astrophysics and other natural sciences....
, Bernard Oliver

Bernard M. Oliver

Bernard M. Oliver , aka Barney Oliver, was an eminent scientist who made important contributions in many fields, including radar, television, and computers....
, David Packard

David Packard

David Packard was a co-founder of Hewlett-Packard , serving as president , CEO , and Chairman of the Board . He served as United States Deputy Secretary of Defense from 1969-1971 during the Richard Nixon....
, William Hewlett, Gordon Moore

Gordon Moore

Gordon Earle Moore is the co-founder and Chairman Emeritus of Intel Corporation and the author of Moore's Law .Moore was born in San Francisco, California, California, but his family lived in nearby Pescadero, California where he grew up....
, Paul Allen

Paul Allen

Paul Gardner Allen is an American computer programmer and entrepreneur who co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates. Allen regularly appears on lists of the richest people in the world....
, Nathan Myhrvold

Nathan Myhrvold

File:Nathan Myhrvold.jpgNathan Myhrvold , formerly Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft, is co-founder of Intellectual Ventures, which is seeking to build a large invention portfolio....
, Lewis Platt, and Greg Papadopoulos

Greg Papadopoulos

Greg Papadopoulos, Ph.D. is the current Vice President and Chief technical officer of Sun Microsystems. He is the creator and lead proponent for Redshift_, a theory on whether technology markets are over or under-served by Moore's_law....
. Two Nobel Laureates are also associated with the SETI Institute: Charles Townes, key inventor of the laser, and Baruch Blumberg

Baruch Samuel Blumberg

Baruch Samuel Blumberg is an United States scientist and recipient of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for "discoveries concerning new mechanisms for the origin and dissemination of infectious diseases." Blumberg identified the Hepatitis B virus, and later developed the diagnostic test and vaccine for it....
, who discovered the Hepatitis B vaccine. Within the SETI Institute, Jill Tarter heads the SETI effort; Dr. Frank Drake

Frank Drake

Dr. Frank Donald Drake is an American astronomer and astrophysicist. He is most famous for founding SETI and creating the Drake equation and Arecibo Message....
, known for the Drake Equation

Drake equation

The Drake equation is a famous result in the speculative fields of exobiology and the SETI .This equation was devised by Frank Drake in 1960, in an attempt to estimate the number of extraterrestrial life civilizations in our galaxy with which we might come in contact....
, is the Director of the Carl Sagan Center, and Edna DeVore is the Director of Education and Public Outreach. Dr. Seth Shostak

Seth Shostak

Seth Shostak is an United States astronomer. He earned his physics degree from Princeton University and a Ph.D. in astronomy from the California Institute of Technology....
is Senior Astronomer, and host of Are We Alone? The SETI Institute is headquartered in Mountain View, California

Mountain View, California

Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, California, in the U.S. state of California. The city gets its name from the views of the Santa Cruz Mountains....
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Funding for SETI Institute programs comes from a variety of sources. Contrary to popular belief, no government funds are allocated for its SETI searches – these are financed entirely by private contributions. Other astrobiology research at the SETI Institute may be funded by NASA, the National Science Foundation

National Science Foundation

The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering....
, or other grants and donations. TeamSETI is the SETI Institute’s worldwide membership and support organization.

SETI Institute

See also

External links