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Frank Drake

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For the comic book character, see Frank Drake (comics). For the 16th century naval commander, see Francis Drake.

Frank Drake
Drake speaking at Cornell University in 2017
Born
Frank Donald Drake

(1930-05-28)May 28, 1930
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
DiedSeptember 2, 2022(2022-09-02) (aged 92)
Aptos, California, U.S.
Alma mater
Known for
Spouses
  • Elizabeth Procter Bell
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1952; div. 1976)​
  • Amahl Shakhashiri
    ​
    (m. 1978)​
Children5, including Nadia Drake
Scientific career
FieldsAstronomy, astrophysics
InstitutionsUniversity of California, Santa Cruz, SETI
Doctoral advisorCecilia Payne-Gaposchkin[1]

Frank Donald Drake (May 28, 1930 – September 2, 2022) was an American astronomer and astrophysicist. Drake made significant radio studies of the planets and was notably involved in the first search for extraterrestrial intelligence, including the founding of SETI, mounting the first observational attempts at detecting extraterrestrial communications in 1960 in Project Ozma, developing the Drake equation, and as the creator of the Arecibo Message, a digital encoding of an astronomical and biological description of the Earth and its lifeforms for transmission into the cosmos.

Drake is considered one of the pioneers of the modern field of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence with Giuseppe Cocconi, Philip Morrison, Iosif Shklovsky, and Carl Sagan.

Early life and education

Born on May 28, 1930, in Chicago, Illinois,[2] Drake showed an early interest in electronics and chemistry. [3] Drake first considered the possibility of life existing on other planets as an eight-year-old, after conjecturing that if human civilization was the result of chance then civilizations might also exist present elsewhere in the universe.[4]

He enrolled at Cornell University on a Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps scholarship.[2] Once there he began studying astronomy. His ideas about the possibility of extraterrestrial life were reinforced by a lecture from astrophysicist Otto Struve in 1951.[4] After receiving a Drake B.A. in Engineering Physics, Drake served briefly as an electronics officer on the heavy cruiser USS Albany. He then went on to graduate school at Harvard from 1952 to 1955 where he received an M.S. and Ph.D. in Astronomy. His doctoral advisor was Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin.[1][2]

Career

Drake started his career undertaking radio astronomical research on the planets in 1958-63 at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Green Bank, West Virginia, where he spearheaded the conversion of the Arecibo Observatory to a radio astronomical facility.[5] Using the radio-telescope at Green Bank, Drake mapped the center of the Milky Way Galaxy for the first time, discovered the ionosphere and magnetosphere of the planet Jupiter, and made significant observations of the atmosphere of the planet Venus.[4][5] In April 1959, Drake secured approval from the director of NRAO for Project Ozma to search for extraterrestrial radio communications.[6] Initially, it was agreed to keep the project secret for fear of ridicule. However, Drake was compelled to publicize his work after Cocconi and Morrison published a paper in Nature in September 1959 entitled "Searching for Interstellar Communications"[4][7] Drake started measurements in 1960, using the NRAO 26-meter radio telescope to search for possible signals from the Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani star systems. No extraterrestrial signals were detected and the project was terminated in July 1960. However, Project Ozma did lead to the then graduate student Carl Sagan to contact Drake, resulting in a lifelong collaboration between the two scientists.[6][4]

In 1961, Drake devised the Drake equation, to estimate the number of extraterrestrial civilizations that might be detectable in the Milky Way galaxy.[4] The Drake equation subsequently became known as the "second most-famous equation in science", after E=mc2.[8]

In 1963 to 1964 Drake briefly served as section chief of Lunar and Planetary Science at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory from 1963-64, before returning to Cornell in 1964, where he was appointed the Goldwin Smith Professor of Astronomy in 1976[4][6][9] In 1972, Drake co-designed the Pioneer plaque with Carl Sagan and Linda Salzman Sagan. The plaque was the first physical message sent into space and designed to be understandable by extraterrestrials should they encounter it.[10] In 1974, Drake he wrote the Arecibo message, the first interstellar message transmitted deliberately from Earth.[11] Drake later served as technical director, with Sagan and Ann Druyan, in the creation of the Voyager Golden Record carried on the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft.[9][12] Drake served as associate director of the Cornell Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, as director of the Arecibo Observatory from 1966 to 1968, and as director of the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC), which includes the Arecibo facility, from its establishment in 1971 to 1981.[9]

In 1984, Drake left Cornell and served as dean of Natural Sciences at the University of California at Santa Cruz. After stepping down from this role in 1988, he remained professor and served as president of the SETI Institute after it was founded in 1984.[2][3] Drake was President of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific from 1988 to 1990. From 1989 to 1992, Drake served as Chairman of the Board of Physics and Astronomy for the National Research Council.[13] Drake retired from teaching in 1996 but remained emeritus professor of astronomy and astrophysics at University of California.[14] In 2010, Drake stepped down as director of "The Carl Sagan Center for the Study of life in the Universe" at the SETI Institute but continued to serve on the SETI Board of Trustees.[4][15]

Personal life

Drake's hobbies included lapidary and the cultivation of orchids.[16]

He had five children, including Nadia Drake.[17][2]

Drake died on September 2, 2022, at his home in Aptos, California, from natural causes at the age of 92.[18]

Honors

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Personal Portrait: CECILIA PAYNE". Retrieved May 2, 2020.[dead link‍]
  2. ^ a b c d e "Frank Drake, pioneer in the search for alien life, dies at 92". Science. September 2, 2022.
  3. ^ a b "Frank D. Drake 1930 – 2022".
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h "Frank Drake - Biography, Facts and Pictures".
  5. ^ a b "Dr. Frank Drake". ISDC 2018.
  6. ^ a b c "Frank Donald Drake". Oxford Reference.
  7. ^ Ccocconi, Giuseppe; Morrison, Philip (1959). "Searching for Interstellar Communications". Nature. 184: 844–846. doi:10.1038/184844a0.
  8. ^ "Drake Equation".
  9. ^ a b c Stephens, Tim. "Pioneering radio astronomer Frank Drake dies at 92". UC Santa Cruz News.
  10. ^ Sagan, Carl; Sagan, Linda Salzman; Drake, Frank (February 25, 1972). "A Message from Earth". Science. 175 (4024): 881–884. Bibcode:1972Sci...175..881S. doi:10.1126/science.175.4024.881.
  11. ^ David, Leonard (Summer 1980). "Putting Our Best Signal Forward". Cosmic Search. 2 (3): 2–7. Bibcode:1980CosSe...2....2D.
  12. ^ "Cornellians celebrate the Voyagers' historic Golden Record". Cornell Chronicle.
  13. ^ "Frank Drake".
  14. ^ University of California | Lick observatory www.ucolick.org retrieved 18:29 23 October 2011
  15. ^ "SETI Institute Names New Chief Alien Life Hunter". Space.com. Retrieved February 23, 2012.
  16. ^ Billings, Lee (October 3, 2013). Five Billion Years of Solitude: The Search for Life Among the Stars (1st ed.). New York: Current, a member of Penguin Group. ISBN 9781617230066.
  17. ^ Broad, William J. (April 10, 1985). "EAVESDROPPERS LISTEN FOR COSMIC HELLO" – via NYTimes.com.
  18. ^ Timmer, John (September 2, 2022). "Frank Drake, astronomer famed for contributions to SETI, has died". Ars Technica. Retrieved September 2, 2022.
  19. ^ "IAU Minor Planet Center". www.minorplanetcenter.net.
  20. ^ "Frank D. Drake". www.nasonline.org.
  21. ^ "Frank Donald Drake". American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
  22. ^ "Drake Award".
  23. ^ "National Space Society to Present Space Pioneer Award to SETI Astronomer Frank Drake". April 16, 2018.
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