9 Frank Drake Quotes for You to Enjoy

Frank Drake

American Scientist

Born: May 28, 1930

Big Could People Sky Stars Time

Related authors: Ben Carson Carl Sagan E. O. Wilson George Washington Carver Isaac Asimov Margaret Mead Neil deGrasse Tyson W. Edwards Deming

Nature never uses prime numbers. But mathematicians do. Frank Drake

Nature Never Prime Mathematicians Uses Numbers

There was a magic about pulsars... no other things in the sky had such labels on them. Each one had its own distinct pulsing frequency, so it could be identified by anybody, including other creatures, after a long period of time and far, far away. Frank Drake

Time Sky Long Own Other Distinct Magic About Could Long Period Had Identified Period Frequency Labels Anybody After Them Far Far Away Each Including Creatures Each One Away Things

People presume we've been somehow monitoring the entire sky at all frequencies, all the time, but we haven't yet been able to do any of those things. The fact is, all the SETI efforts to date have only closely examined a couple thousand nearby stars, and we're only just now learning which of those might have promising planets. Frank Drake

Time Learning People Sky Stars Those Presume Thousand Promising Able Entire Somehow Examined Only Date Fact Couple Been Efforts Closely Any Just Which Might Planets Now Nearby Things Monitoring

The story seems to be that almost every star has a planetary system... and, also, the definition of 'habitable zone' has expanded. In our system, it used to be that only Mars and Earth were potentially habitable. Now we've got an ocean on Europa... Titan. Frank Drake

We send messages all the time, free of charge. There's a big shell out there now, 80 light-years around us. A civilization only a little more advanced than we are can pick those things up. Frank Drake

If you're sending a message to extraterrestrials, what you want to send is what's special about us and our planet - what is unusual. Now, that's not basic chemistry or mineralogy; it's pretty much the cultural stuff and the consequences of evolution. Frank Drake

Right now, there could well be messages from the stars flying right through this room. Through you and me. And if we had the right receiver set up properly, we could detect them. I still get chills thinking about it. Frank Drake

While NASA talks about 'Are we alone?' as a number one question, they are putting zero money into searching for intelligent life. There's a big disconnect there. Frank Drake

Life Alone Money Big About Putting Talks Disconnect NASA Question Intelligent Intelligent Life While Searching Zero Number

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