| Personal background |
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I am a 55 year old former teacher (science, geography, computers, special education) and have had a life long interest in astronomy,having been a memeber of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada for close to thirty years. I live near Toronto and am not too far from pretty good night skies. I do some primitive astrophotography and have hosted an Astronomy Club at school for most of my 32 year career. A culminating event of each school year was a trip to the University of Toronto's David Dunlap Observatory in Richmond Hill, a facility which housed, for a few months at least, the world's biggest optical telescope. It is now dwarfed by many others but still does very valuable variable star observations. Ian Shelton, discoverer of Supernova 1987A in the Magellenic Clouds, is attached to this facility and is always a pleasure to talk to.
At present, I am writing two books which I hope to publish very soon. In my leisure time, I enjoy astronomy, reading, chess, fly fishing for trout, hiking, camping, gardening, playing guitar in a classic rock band,and travelling the forgotten byways of rural Ontario. I have two children, one of whom is in Japan teaching English and another who is employed as a French teacher. My wife is also a teacher and is anticipating retiring this year when we will be free to travel and see what the world has to offer. |
| Thoughts about SETI and SETI@home |
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I run SETI at home because I was intrigued by the project when I read about it years ago in an article by Dr. Carl Sagan, who, I believe, was the founder of this project. (Correct me if I'm wrong.) For me, it is a way to participate in the quest for knowledge about the universe and, ultimately of course, to see who else is out there, for I have little doubt that we are not alone. Given the vastness of space and the billions of galaxies each containing billions of stars, it is highly unlikely, statistically speaking, that we are the only sentient life form with technology, Dr. Drake's revised equation notwithstanding. I also believe the project is a noble symbol of Man's eternal curiosity and of his desire to find his place in the order of things. It represents our finest hopes and dreams.
I think that, with more advertising, many more people will come aboard and allow the project to utilize their computers' power to sift through the astonishing amount of data received daily. Thank you for providing the opportunity to participate in this. |
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