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| Personal background |
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| My dad kindled an interest in astronomy and science in me when I was only twelve or thirteen by buying me a chemistry set and a little reflector telescope. I loved that scope and couldn't wait for clear skies in my home town of Devine, Texas to have a look at Venus, Orion, and Jupiter. Sadly, the scope met its demise as I was projecting an image of the sun on a piece of paper. Heh heh, early plastics didn't handle the heat very well and the objective melted! Dad also involved us with car and aircraft models as well as model rocketry. I have great memories of dad working with my brother Stan and I assembling those first few rockets. We were all fascinated and excited as we launched those babies! Before long, Stan and I were buying bulk supplies and building our own model rockets and our cousins and friends were involved too. We had a great time with these all through our teens. There was a rock and roll band, a special high school sweetheart, college, and graduate school. Before long there was a career in chemistry, marriage, and a son. Nowdays when I think about astronomy, it brings me back to my roots. It seems to be pretty close to where many good things got started. The beginning of a personal interest in the vast world of physics and quest for a deeper understanding. There was always more to know. The interest in antique light brought me into chemistry, spectroscopy, and computers which have all turned out to be rather practical for understanding of objects both near and far. |
| Thoughts about SETI and SETI@home |
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| As children, we were always open to the possibility of extraterrestrial life. The media was full of speculation about life on other planets as soon as TV was available. It was popular and even commercial and I guess the possibility stuck with me. I remember hearing signals from Spudnik on the radio and seeing the lights from distant stars and the Andromeda Galaxy with my own eyes. Anything was possible then and, of course, it still is! The more we know the more we know we need to know! Nothing I've learned so far has ruled out the idea that others with intelligence might exist. Seems to me, the more we know, the less special humans seem to be and the more related and special all life on this planet appears. As improbable as contact might actually be in the next thousands of years because of the distances involved, it still seems possible for us to detect another civilization. Why shouldn't we try and meanwhile give all this personal computer technology something to work on? I run SETI@home because I believe the pioneering effort is worth while and I'm certainly not alone. It spins off other efforts to do things like number crunch on protien structures and other stuff, that's useful too. I take pride in participating in this study because of its novelty and because it is so close to my roots. Listening is what we should do well as a planet. Let's understand our place before we decide to beacon something. Let's take the time to find out more about those who might be around us before we seek attention. We make enough noise already. Sending without adequate tools for listening would seem futile as well as dangerous. Let's reap the benefits from discovering another civilization first and give our culture generations to adjust before we make ourselves any easier to find. When we begin to think outside of our own local and national politics, hopefully, we can make our own world a better place and be better custodians of this beautiful oasis. Then our place in the universe and our responsibities will be clear. |
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