Lawrence Squeri (Author)
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.
...MoreReview 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).
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/)
Article
Mackinnon, Lee;
(2014)
Toward an Algorithmic Realism: The Evolving Nature of Astronomical Knowledge in Representations of the Non-Visible
(/isis/citation/CBB001201295/)
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/)
Article
Goldsmith, John;
(2014)
The Ilgarijiri Project: A Collaboration between Aboriginal Communities and Radio Astronomers in the Murchison Region of Western Australia
(/isis/citation/CBB001451562/)
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/)
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