Astrobiology Workshop, Macquarie University July 12-13 2001

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40 Years of SETI

Ragbir Bhathal (University of Western Sydney)

The scientific search for extraterrestrial intelligence began with the publication of a seminal paper in 1959 by Cocconi and Morrison. A couple of years later two other papers appeared. One by Drake on his radio search for ETI signals from two nearby stars and the other by Schwartz and Townes who advocated a search for ETI laser signals. Over the last forty years rapid developments have taken place in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Search strategies have been refined and expanded. SETI itself has slowly been making inroads into mainstream astronomy. It is expected that in the next fifty years it will come to occupy a central position in astronomical studies. This paper provides a critical review and analyses of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence over the last forty years.