Frank Drake | |
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 Drake in 2012 | |
| Born | Frank Donald Drake (1930-05-28)May 28, 1930 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | September 2, 2022(2022-09-02) (aged 92) Aptos, California, U.S. |
| Alma mater | |
| Known for | |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 5, includingNadia |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Astronomy,astrophysics |
| Institutions | University of California, Santa Cruz,SETI Institute,Cornell University |
| Thesis | Neutral hydrogen in galactic clusters (1958) |
| Doctoral advisor | Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin |
| Doctoral students | Donald C. Backer |
Frank Donald Drake (May 28, 1930 – September 2, 2022) was an Americanastrophysicist andastrobiologist.
He began his career as aradio astronomer, studying theplanets of the Solar System and laterpulsars. Drake expanded his interests to thesearch for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), beginning withProject Ozma in 1960, an attempt atextraterrestrial communication. He developed theDrake equation,[1] which attempts to quantify the number of intelligent lifeforms that could potentially be discovered. Working withCarl Sagan, Drake helped to design thePioneer plaque, the first physical message flown beyond the Solar System, and was part of the team that developed theVoyager Golden Record. Drake designed and implemented theArecibo message in 1974, an extraterrestrial radio transmission of astronomical and biological information about Earth. He is the father of Advanced SETI.
Drake worked at theNational Radio Astronomy Observatory,Jet Propulsion Laboratory,Cornell University,University of California at Santa Cruz, and theSETI Institute.
Born on May 28, 1930, in Chicago, Illinois,[2] Drake showed an early interest in electronics and chemistry.[3] His father was a chemical engineer, and his mother a music teacher. He had two younger siblings.[4]
He enrolled atCornell University on aNavy Reserve Officer Training Corps scholarship.[2] Once there he began studying astronomy. His ideas about the possibility ofextraterrestrial life were reinforced by a lecture from astrophysicistOtto Struve in 1951.[5] After receiving a B.A. in Engineering Physics, Drake served briefly as an electronics officer on theheavy cruiserUSSAlbany. He then went on to graduate school atHarvard University from 1952 to 1955 where he received a M.S. and Ph.D. in astronomy. Hisdoctoral advisor wasCecilia Payne-Gaposchkin.[2][5]
Drake began his research career as aradio astronomer, working at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) inGreen Bank, West Virginia from 1958 to 1963. At NRAO, he conducted research into radio emissions from theplanets of the Solar System: using the radio telescope at Green Bank, Drake discovered theionosphere andmagnetosphere ofJupiter, and observed theatmosphere of Venus. He also mapped the radio emission from theGalactic Center.[6] Drake extended the capabilities of the under-constructionArecibo Observatory to allow it to be used for radio astronomy (it was originally designed purely forionospheric physics).[6]
In April 1959, Drake obtained approval from the director Otto Struve of NRAO to beginProject Ozma, a search for extraterrestrial radio communications.[7] Initially, they agreed to keep the project secret, fearing public ridicule. However, Drake decided to publicize his project afterGiuseppe Cocconi andPhilip Morrison published a paper inNature in September 1959, entitled "Searching for Interstellar Communications".[8] Drake began his Project Ozma observations in 1960, using the NRAO 26-meter radio telescope, by searching for possible signals from the star systemsTau Ceti andEpsilon Eridani. No extraterrestrial signals were detected and the project was terminated in July 1960. After learning about Project Ozma,Carl Sagan (then a graduate student) contacted Drake, initiating a lifelong collaboration between them.[7]
In 1961, Drake devised theDrake equation, which attempted to estimate the number of extraterrestrial civilizations that might be detectable in theMilky Way.[1] The Drake equation has been described as the "second most-famous equation in science", afterE=mc2.[9]
In 1963, Drake served as section chief of Lunar and Planetary Science at theJet Propulsion Laboratory. He returned to Cornell in 1964, this time as a member of the faculty, where he would spend the next two decades. He was promoted to Goldwin Smith Professor of Astronomy in 1976.[7][10] Drake served as associate director of the Cornell Center for Radiophysics and Space Research[when?], 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.[10]
In 1972, Drake co-designed thePioneer plaque with Carl Sagan andLinda Salzman Sagan. The plaque was the first physical message sent into space and intended to be understandable by any sufficiently technologically advanced extraterrestrial lifeforms that might intercept it.[11] In 1974, Drake wrote theArecibo message, the first interstellar message transmitted deliberately from Earth.[12] He later served as technical director, with Carl Sagan andAnn Druyan, in the development of theVoyager Golden Record, an improved version of the Pioneer plaque which also incorporated audio recordings.[10][13]
In 1984, Drake moved to theUniversity of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC), becoming theirDean of Natural Science. The non-profitSETI Institute was founded the same year, with Drake as president of its board of trustees. Drake left his role as dean in 1988, but remained a professor at UCSC while also becoming director of the SETI Institute'sCarl Sagan Center.[2][3] Drake was President of theAstronomical Society of the Pacific from 1988 to 1990. From 1989 to 1992, he was chairman of the Board of Physics and Astronomy for theNational Research Council.[14] He retired from teaching in 1996 but remained emeritus professor of astronomy and astrophysics at UCSC.[15] In 2010, Drake stepped down as director of The Carl Sagan Center but continued to serve on the SETI Institute's board of trustees.[16]
On the subject of the search for the existence of extraterrestrial life, Drake said: "[A]s far as I know, the most fascinating, interesting thing you could find in the universe is not another kind of star or galaxy … but another kind of life."[17]
Drake's hobbies includedlapidary and the cultivation oforchids.[18]
Drake married musician Elizabeth Bell in 1953; they divorced in 1976.[4] They had three sons. In 1978, Drake married Amahl Shakhashiri, with whom he had two daughters, including science journalistNadia Drake.[4][19][2]
Drake died on September 2, 2022, at his home inAptos, California, from natural causes at the age of 92.[4][20]
The question of the existence of intelligent life elsewhere in space has long fascinated people, but, until recently, has been properly left to the science‐fiction writers.
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