Frank Drake

Frank Donald Drake (1930-2022) was an American astrophysicist and astrobiologist who helped found the scientific search for extraterrestrial intelligence. In 1960 he conducted Project Ozma, the first systematic radio search for signals from other star systems, observing the nearby stars Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani. In 1961 he formulated the Drake equation, a framework for estimating the number of communicating civilizations that might exist in the galaxy, which became a foundational tool for astrobiology and a standard reference point in discussions of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, SETI. He also helped design the 1974 Arecibo message, a radio transmission aimed at a distant star cluster intended to demonstrate the existence of intelligent life on Earth, and worked on the plaques and recordings carried aboard the Pioneer and Voyager probes. Drake later served as a longtime officer of the SETI Institute, shaping the organization's scientific programs for decades.