SETI Institute

The SETI Observer

button Voices: Dr. Christopher Chyba  
button An Interferometer is Born!  
button Tomorrow's Teachers Needed Today  
button Dr. Seth Shostak's SETI Course  
button SETI Challenge  
button Last Month's Challenge  
 

Allen Telescope Array

Artist depiction of the
Allen Telescope Array

Dear SETI enthusiasts:

On behalf of the SETI Institute, I’m pleased to announce the fresh new look of our website, www.seti.org. We've revamped the site and added new navigation tools that will make it easier to use. Our smart new architecture will help you dig deeper into your areas of interest. Whether you are seeking something specific or casually surfing, everything on the site is now easier to find and closer at hand.

You’ll see the changes immediately when you open this month’s Voices, which I am particularly pleased to point out as it features Dr. Christopher Chyba, Carl Sagan Chairholder in the Institute’s Center for the Study of Life in the Universe. I am sure you will enjoy this piece.

Our website has grown over the years, just like the Institute itself. We were one of the early adopters of web technology during the pioneering days of the Internet. With foresight characteristic of SETI researchers, Dr. Peter Backus developed the first SETI Institute web site in 1994, when visitors were mostly students and other members of academic and research communities. As connectivity spread from offices and laboratories to countless homes worldwide, the Institute was ready and waiting for a web-surfing public.

From the beginning, we have learned many lessons from the feedback provided by people like you, savvy SETI web visitors who are engaged with our mission and interested in our work. Thanks for your help!

I invite you to preview the new look, enjoy the new stories and linger to explore during your visit to www.seti.org.

Happy New Year!

Thomas Pierson
CEO, SETI Institute

 

button Voices: Dr. Christopher Chyba
  Science at the SETI Institute draws from a suite of interdisciplinary fields that inform the search for life—intelligent or otherwise—in the universe. In fact, the SETI Institute is the only research organization dedicated to a full spectrum investigation of life off Earth. Dr. Christopher F. Chyba, Carl Sagan Chair of the SETI Institute’s Center for the Study of Life in the Universe (LITU), is currently leading a long-range planning initiative for his Center, efforts that will move the Institute into the forefront of LITU research.

button An Interferometer is Born!
  On December 5, 2002, engineers and scientists at the Hat Creek site of the future Allen Telescope Array in northern California reached an exciting milestone. Two individual telescope dishes of the Production Test Array worked successfully in tandem to view a passing GPS satellite. A tiny interferometer was born, and the Allen Telescope Array team is now ready to move forward with further system tests.

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button Tomorrow's Teachers Needed Today
  How can we grow our future generation of scientists in the United States in such a way to maintain the quality of US science while attracting a broad spectrum of population groups to scientific careers? While often offering advice for would-be SETI scientists, Institute Director of Education Edna DeVore, takes a look at the broader question of engaging young people in science generally in a recent SPACE.com’s SETI Thursday. One answer may lie in innovative programs to bring genuine, hands-on science research into pre-college and undergraduate classrooms.
 

button Dr. Seth Shostak's SETI Course on Sale at The Teaching Company
  Learning is a life long process, and SETI Institute scientists routinely participate in education programs, formal and informal for people of all ages in all walks of life. Institute Senior Astronomer, Dr. Seth Shostak explains the search for intelligent life off Earth in a lively and engaging course on tape, Search for Intelligent Life in Space (audio and video) that is now on sale for SETI Observer readers at The Teaching Company. Thanks to the generosity of this company, SETI and other astronomy courses will be offered to residents of the community at Hat Creek, site of the future Allen Telescope Array.
To purchase Search for Intelligent Life in Space call 1-800-TEACH-12 (1-800-832-2412) and mention special offer number 13316.
 

button SETI Challenge*
SETI Institute Challenge

Be one of the first five to answer the following question correctly and get a cool SETI Institute t-shirt. We'll post the answer in next month's e-newsletter. Choose the phrase that best completes this statement and send your answer to newsletter@seti.org.

Dr. Christopher Chyba uses ____ to illustrate the arguments for both contingency and convergence as primary drivers behind evolution.

  1. Opposable Thumbs
  2. Wings
  3. Pizza
  4. Radio Telescopes

 

button SETI INSTITUTE CHALLENGE: Did you answer correctly?
SETI Institute Challenge

In the last SETI Observer, we asked:

Kent Cullers became a SETI scientist after he

  1. "hung out" at NASA Ames when SETI was a NASA project.
  2. helped to write part of the movie script for Contact.
  3. attended a Greek wedding where he met Jill Tarter.
  4. read the Cyclops report written by Bernard M. Oliver.

This was a tough one. All but one (B) of the choices were factors in Kent’s ultimate career. Careful readers noted that the precipitating event was C, the Greek wedding, and five of the first six answers received correctly identified winning choice.

Watch for another thought provoking question in next month's e-newsletter.

Copyright © 2003, SETI Institute
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Tel: (650) 961-6633 - Fax: (650) 961-7099

Email:newsletter@seti.org

*SETI Challenge
All individuals are eligible to win except for the following

1) SETI Institute staff members and immediate family members of SETI Institute staff

2) Individuals who have previously submitted a winning entry within a period of 12 months from the date of the current contest.