Astronomer Jill Tarter wants us all to ask the question, “Are we alone?” As director of the SETI Institute (it stands for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), Tarter is dedicated to seeking the answer, as well as to imparting upon one and all the importance of the search. In 2009, Tarter was awarded the prestigious […]
How many detectable alien civilizations are out there in our galaxy? In 1961, astronomer Frank Drake developed an equation to estimate the number. Now data journalist David McCandless, who gave the talk “The beauty of data visualization” at TEDGlobal 2010, has created an information graphic for the BBC calculating the Drake Equation — with a […]
Are we alone? It’s a question with which we are all familiar. Jill Tarter says she started asking it “as a little girl, walking along the deserted and dark beaches of Manasota Key, Florida, holding on to my father’s hand.” She went on to advanced studies in engineering, physics and astrophysics, to pursue a career […]
Three years ago Jill Tarter wished that everyone would become citizen scientists, and help take part in the quest to find intelligent life elsewhere in the Universe. At TED2012, astronomer Arfon Smith presented a new part of the wish. The Allen Telescope Array is looking for signals from extra terrestrial intelligence on radio frequencies, and a […]
Photo by Robert Leslie Last night at the Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn, Nobel laureate Sir Paul Nurse moderated a discussion centered around the age-old question: Are we alone? Four scientists, including 2009 TED Prize winner Jill Tarter, shared their latest projects, which are better equipping Earthlings to answer this exciting question. Steven Squyres, who […]
(Photo: TED / Asa Mathat) SETI Institute, an interdisciplinary scientific organization that explores the nature of life throughout the universe, announced that starting today it will make large quantities of astronomical radio telescope data accessible to astronomers and other scientists as part of an effort to build a global community of searchers for evidence of […]
This spring, astronomer Jill Tarter made a far-reaching TED Prize wish — to search for signs of intelligent life on other planets. As part of making this wish come true, the SETI Institute is looking to hire a project manager with the experience, qualifications and energy to run the TED Prize wish project for at […]
TED Prize winner Jill Tarter tips us to this event going on right now: Around the World in 80 Telescopes, a live 24-hour telescopecast from astronomical observatories around the world. It’s part of the “100 Hours of Astronomy” celebration happening April 2-5. From the site: “Around the World in 80 Telescopes” is a unique live […]
To celebrate March 8, International Women’s Day, we suggest these four TEDTalks gems from some amazing speakers — artists, scientists and economists who think deeply about the role of women. Author and activist Isabel Allende discusses women, creativity, feminism — and the power of passionate thinkers and doers: The former Finance Minister of Nigeria, Ngozi […]
Astronomer Jill Tarter is director of the Center for SETI Research at the SETI Institute. She was awarded the TED Prize in 2009, and at the TED Conference she wished that the TED community would “empower Earthlings everywhere to become active participants in the ultimate search for cosmic company.” (Her talk on why the search […]
From TED2009! The SETI Institute’s Jill Tarter makes her TED Prize wish: to keep looking for cosmic company. Using a growing array of radio telescopes, she (and all of us) can listen for patterns that may be a sign of intelligence elsewhere in the universe. (Recorded February 2009 in Long Beach, California. Duration: 21:23.) Watch […]
Legendary interviewer Patt Morrison ran a two-hour broadcast from TED today, pulling in a raft of TED speakers and TEDsters, including two of the 2009 TED Prize winners. In four segments, she asked some amazing questions and started up some cross-pollinating discussions: Shai Agassi and Ray Anderson discussing the green revolution; Alex Tabarrok and Robin […]
The response to the TED Prize here at the TED@PalmSprings simulcast was enthusiastic and inspiring. After two days mesmerized, locked into “absorb” mode, TEDsters seem to be feeling the beginnings of a change in momentum toward collaborating … and contributing. Fresh off of the emotional high of the wishes, ideas are flying. Here are just […]
Above, Jill Tarter, the director of the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute’s Center for SETI Research, makes this wish: I wish that you would empower Earthlings everywhere to become active participants in the ultimate search for cosmic company. Learn more, and help grant this wish >> Photo: TED / James Duncan Davidson