Photo credit:Â Alex Savello/NRAOÂ
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For untold centuries humanity has gazed up at the night sky and marveled at what might be contained in that great vastness.  As our tools sharpened, we began to measure and catalog the cosmos, discovering the remarkable history of our universe, the many billions of galaxies it now contains, and recently the profound fact that virtually every point of light we see, every star, contains planets like our own Solar System.  But the most profound question, whether or not there might be anyone, or anything, looking back at us, has remained a mystery. Â
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Today, we have arrived on the verge of answering that question, as our technology brings us explorational powers that our ancestors would struggle to imagine.  In the coming decades, we will attain the capacity to engineer terrestrial biology, build minds from silicon and populate the Moon, Mars and beyond.  In so doing, we may finally find an answer to: Are we alone?  In this lecture, Dr. Andrew Siemion will describe recent advances in astronomy and astrobiology that are propelling us toward the answer, including the most comprehensive, sensitive and intensive search for extraterrestrial intelligence in history—Breakthrough Listen.
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In-person attendance option
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This program will be presented virtually via Zoom webinar. If you would prefer to attend this program in-person at the Linda Hall Library, please follow this link to register:
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Dr. Siemion is the Principal Investigator for Breakthrough Listen, the world’s largest search for signatures of advanced technology beyond Earth, headquartered at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Dr. Siemion also holds the Bernard M. Oliver Chair for SETI at the SETI Institute, leading a variety of technosignature search programs including at the Allen Telescope Array in Northern California.
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Dr. Siemion additionally holds an Honorary Professorship at the University of Manchester and the University of Malta, and is the Director of the Berkeley SETI Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley.
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Dr. Siemion received BA, MA and PhD degrees in Astrophysics from the University of California, Berkeley and was awarded the Mary Elizabeth Uhl Dissertation Prize for his work in radio astrophysics. Â Dr. Siemion was the recipient of the 2024 Drake Award at the SETI Institute, named after famed astronomer Frank Drake.
