Book ID: CBB128896855

Waiting for Contact: The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (2016)

unapi

Lawrence Squeri (Author)


University Press of Florida


Publication Date: 2016
Physical Details: 233 pages
Language: English

Why do we pursue the quest for alien life? "A cogent, engaging history of humanity's most ambitious quest--seeking outward for other minds."--David Brin, author of Existence "A fascinating perspective on humankind's obsession for knowing if there is anyone else out there."--Gerrit Verschuur, author of The Invisible Universe: The Story of Radio Astronomy Imagine a network of extraterrestrials in radio contact with each other across the universe, superior beings who hail from advanced civilizations quadrillions of miles away, just waiting for Earth to tune in. Some people believe it's only a matter of time before we discover the right "station." Waiting for Contact tells the story of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) movement, which emerged in 1959 as new technological developments turned what once was speculation into science: astronomers began using radio telescopes to listen for messages from space. Boosted by support from Frank Drake, Philip Morrison, and Carl Sagan, the SETI movement gained followers and continues to capture imaginations today. In this one-of-a-kind history, Lawrence Squeri looks at the people, the reasons, the goals, and the mindsets behind SETI. He shows how it started as an expression of the times, a way out of Cold War angst into hope for a better world. SETI's early advocates thought that with guidance from technically and ethically advanced outsiders, humanity might learn how to avoid horrors like World Wars I and II, the Great Depression, and the threat of nuclear annihilation. Squeri also describes the challenges SETI has faced over the years: the struggle to be taken seriously by the scientific community and by NASA, competition for access to radio telescopes, perpetual lack of funding, and opposition by the government. Yet--lest readers be tempted into similar skepticism--he points out that if, against all expectations, the embattled SETI movement finally succeeds, the long-awaited first signal picked up by its radio antennas would usher in the greatest shift in human history.

...More
Reviewed By

Review David H. DeVorkin (2017) Review of "Waiting for Contact: The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence". Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences (pp. 882-883). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB128896855/

Similar Citations

Article Penny, Alan John; (2013)
The SETI Episode in the 1967 Discovery of Pulsars (/isis/citation/CBB001320787/)

Book Wade Roush; (2020)
Extraterrestrials (/isis/citation/CBB810763664/)

Book Jakosky, Bruce; (2006)
Science, Society, and the Search for Life in the Universe (/isis/citation/CBB000800068/)

Article Ćirković, Milan M.; (2014)
Evolutionary Contingency and SETI Revisited (/isis/citation/CBB001421609/)

Article Marc Champagne; (2019)
Diagrams and alien ways of thinking (/isis/citation/CBB909895920/)

Book Lane, K. Maria D.; (2011)
Geographies of Mars: Seeing and Knowing the Red Planet (/isis/citation/CBB001032129/)

Article Débarbat, Suzanne; Lequeux, James; Orchiston, Wayne; (2007)
Highlighting the History of French Radio Astronomy, 1: Nordmann's Attempt to Observe Solar Radio Emission in 1901 (/isis/citation/CBB000831602/)

Book Lamb, David; (2001)
Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence: A Philosophical Inquiry (/isis/citation/CBB000102180/)

Book Andreas Anton; Michael Schetsche; (2023)
Meeting the Alien: An Introduction to Exosociology (/isis/citation/CBB610120959/)

Thesis Fricke, Arthur C.; (2004)
SETI Science: Mananging Alien Narratives (/isis/citation/CBB001561732/)

Chapter Crowe, Michael J.; (2001)
Astronomy and Religion (1780-1915): Four Case Studies Involving Ideas of Extraterrestrial Life (/isis/citation/CBB000101142/)

Article Crowe, Michael J.; (2001)
Astronomy and Religion (1780-1915): Four Case Studies Involving Ideas of Extraterrestrial Life (/isis/citation/CBB000671347/)

Book Vakoch, Douglas A.; (2013)
Astrobiology, History, and Society: Life beyond Earth and the Impact of Discovery (/isis/citation/CBB001510141/)

Article Zijlstra, Albert A.; Davis, Richard J.; (2012)
Sir Bernard Lovell (1913--2012) (/isis/citation/CBB001320464/)

Book Katia Moskvitch; (2020)
Neutron Stars: The Quest to Understand the Zombies of the Cosmos (/isis/citation/CBB559459540/)

Chapter Vakoch, Douglas A.; (2009)
Encoding Our Origins: Communicating the Evolutionary Epic in Interstellar Messages (/isis/citation/CBB001032619/)

Article MariaLane, K. D.; (2006)
Mapping the Mars Canal Mania: Cartographic Projection and the Creation of a Popular Icon (/isis/citation/CBB000671334/)

Thesis Lane, Kristina Maria Doyle; (2006)
Imaginative Geographies of Mars: The Science and Significance of the RedPlanet, 1877--1910 (/isis/citation/CBB001560597/)

Authors & Contributors
Vakoch, Douglas A.
Crowe, Michael J.
Moskvitch, Katia
Wade Roush
Andreas Anton
Schetsche, Michael
Concepts
Extraterrestrial life; exobiology
Astronomy
Radio astronomy
Mars
Space research and exploration
Science and religion
Time Periods
19th century
21st century
20th century, early
20th century, late
20th century
18th century
Places
United States
France
Australia
Institutions
Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) (Study group: U.S.)
Observatoire de Paris
Nuffield Radio Astronomy Laboratories, Jodrell Bank
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment