I was born in 1971. My father died when I was 6 years old. Ever since then I have had an interest in what lies beyond our planet earth. Perhaps this could be related to how a child copes with a death and the religious thought that someone's soul goes to heaven up in the skies. I can remember as a child getting together with the neighborhood kids and getting out our telescopes on a warm summer night and looking at the moon trying to find various known features. I can also remember getting my first telescope, I was about 7 years old and at my birthday party none of the other kids knew what a telescope was so I tried to explain what it was to them. As I matured I found that my destiny lies in the field of nuclear engineering. Today, I am a nuclear engineer by trade. I work at a nuclear power plant. I firmly believe that sentient life exists outside of planet earth. Being an engineer it is my responsibility to either prove or disapprove that existence. To believe (whether it be of religious of scientific nature) that life (even sentient) does not exist outside of plant earth is what I would call blasphemy. It would be the equivalent of the olden days thought that the Earth was flat.
Thoughts about SETI and SETI@home
SETI@home is the first step in contacting civilizations outside of planet Earth. Given our current technological level and listening method, we most likely will not find anything IMHO but the fact that we are trying to prove the existance of other civilizations is what interests me. I am honored as an engineer to be partaking in this project.
SETI@home and Astropulse are funded by grants from the National Science Foundation, NASA, and donations from SETI@home volunteers. AstroPulse is funded in part by the NSF through grant AST-0307956.
