Alien hunter retires after 35-year quest for E.T.

Link to Article at FoxNews

And after 35 years of fruitless hunting, director of SETI Research Jill Tarter is giving up the quest -- but she’s not giving up hope. After all, life abounds in the strangest places, she told FoxNews.com.

“We find it in boiling battery acid, at the bottom of the ocean where there’s huge pressure, there are microbes that make their living where the sun doesn’t shine -- and they’re quite happy there,” Tarter said. And life out there would tell us a lot about back here.

“Think about it. If we detect a signal, we could learn about THEIR past (because of the time their signal took to reach us) and the possibility of OUR future,” Tarter said.

Read more: www.foxnews.com...

Sad to see one of the honest authentic researchers go. She added plenty to the debate and kept it alive in the world of real science.

Link to Wiki Article on Jill Tarter..

Jill Cornell Tarter (born Jan 16, 1944) is an American astronomer and the current director of the Center for SETI Research, holding the Bernard M. Oliver Chair for SETI at the SETI Institute.[1]

Tarter received her undergraduate education at Cornell University, where she earned a Bachelor of Engineering Physics Degree, and a Master's degree and PhD in astronomy from the University of California at Berkeley.[2]

Tarter has worked on a number of major scientific projects, most relating to the search for extraterrestrial life. As a graduate student, she worked on the radio-search project SERENDIP, and created the corresponding backronym, "Search for Extraterrestrial Radio Emissions from Nearby Developed Intelligent Populations." She was project scientist for NASA's High Resolution Microwave Survey (HRMS) in 1992 and 1993 and subsequently director of Project Phoenix (HRMS reconfigured) under the auspices of the SETI Institute. She was co-creator with Margaret Turnbull of the HabCat in 2002, a principal component of Project Phoenix. Tarter has published dozens of technical papers and lectures extensively both on the search for extraterrestrial intelligence and the need for proper science education. She is credited with coining the term "brown dwarf" for the classification of stars with insufficient mass to sustain hydrogen fusion.[3] She has spent 35 years in the quest for extraterrestrial life.[1]

Definitely a great career and a loss to the community. I hope she has a wonderful time in her retirement. She earned it.

Link to message at SETI

“For many years working at the SETI Institute I’ve worn two hats: the Bernard Oliver chair, and the Director of the Center for SETI Research,” said Tarter, who was a prototype for the character Ellie Arroway in Carl Sagan’s novel and film “Contact.” “My colleague Dr. Gerry Harp will step into the directorship role to continue our strong tradition of excellent research, freeing me up to focus on finding stable funding for it. I want to make the endowment of SETI research a success, so that my colleagues now, and in the future, can focus on the search for extraterrestrial intelligence for all of us.”

At the same link you will find info to join in with SETI ..

We need YOU to join our Team!

As a non-profit organization, our search for life in the universe is not possible without public support.

Becoming a member of our Team means you are joining a growing global community who is proactively making the search for answers possible. This is humanity’s search and we cannot do it alone. Join today!

A link to Team SETI

reply to post by Blaine91555

After that much time and dedication I sure hope they give her a good send-off party. An all-expenses paid trip to The Little A'Le'Inn in Rachel? Plus a gold and kryptonite mantel clock or watch of course. That surely comes as standard.

reply to post by Blaine91555

35 human terrestial years searching is not even a blink of the eye for space, time/dimensional travellers. Means nothing that someone drops out of the search after what is a non-existent granule of sand in terms of time in the human scope of things.

35 years and no contact. Maybe it's because ET's are from here. They could be so small with such complex brains that we wouldn't recognize them as intelligent. Science assumes big brains are necessary for intelligence but can't see that a bee has an intellect and personality. Bees have a communication so superior to humans that their brains have to be more complex than ours. Science can't comprehend that their perception could be so far from reality that they will never be able to find the truth. Energy itself can have structure without solid matter present. There are too many boxes for me in this reality, many people think they know everything because they have credentials and that knowledge and self esteem blinds them. Maybe this person will be able to find what they were looking for now that she's not searching so hard.

reply to post by LightSpeedDriver


Probably the best gift would be for people to help keep SETI alive.

I admit I have a cup and other things from that place though. I found the owners to be very nice and fun to spend an afternoon with. It was funny watching a load of people from an RV come in and ask where Roswell is

reply to post by Egyptia


Not doubt, this Universe is one very large place. Even so, maybe someday.

reply to post by rickymouse


Even mainstream science accept that life in this Universe elsewhere is almost a given. She was looking in the right place. What she did was eliminate possibilities which is as important to the search as anything else.

reply to post by Blaine91555


Blaine91555, good thread mate and I'll be sorry to see her go.

“Think about it. If we detect a signal, we could learn about THEIR past (because of the time their signal took to reach us) and the possibility of OUR future,” Tarter said.

Considering the bubble of our transmissions is 200 light years across, it doesn't look very big on this picture - I'm sure she's earned her retirement but it'll probably take a lot longer than 35 years to detect anything in a universe this big.

Image (Scroll Right) :

Thread

Cheers.

reply to post by karl 12


It's also possible we are searching in the wrong way. It's impossible to know what other forms of communication exist.

She was a genuine giant in this topic.

It will interesting to see what the array in Australia will produce as it comes online. Hopefully SETI will get some time with it as it progresses.

Biggest reason for SETI failure: Assuming ETs communication means and abilities are by any means similar to our own. A lot of people and institutions have invested time and financial resources into this project, but I knew it would be a dud from the start.

Do we attempt communication with fish? Do they have the ability to listen in on us, or comprehend life above the water-line? No, nein and nyet.

SETI is of no help. They may as well shut them down, permanently this time.

Originally posted by Q33323
Biggest reason for SETI failure: Assuming ETs communication means and abilities are by any means similar to our own. A lot of people and institutions have invested time and financial resources into this project, but I knew it would be a dud from the start.

Do we attempt communication with fish? Do they have the ability to listen in on us, or comprehend life above the water-line? No, nein and nyet.

Seems to me if as a species we took that attitude, we would still be living in caves. Why cross the mountains if we don't know whats on the other side. Why cross an ocean when we may fall off the edge.

All science leads to innovation that benefits society as a whole in some way in the future. Yes, even failed science.

Originally posted by Imtor
SETI is of no help. They may as well shut them down, permanently this time.

Forgive me for asking, but why are you on this Forum if it's of no interest to you? Seems odd to me?

reply to post by Blaine91555


ufo believers don't like seti because they dont agree we are being visited

Isn't Jill the basis for Jodie fosters character in the movie Contact?

If so, wow....sad. But you can't go on forever.

reply to post by amongus


Yes, she is the Poster Child for the search for intelligent life elsewhere.

SETI is one of the very few legitimate searches conducted by rational science.

reply to post by amongus

Jodie was on a fund-raiser last year for SETI. I think it was last year. The money she helped raise helped start back up (limited) operations from what I read.

The "WOW" signal from 1977 was quite a large event for the SETI team, unfortunately it was never seen again.

The "WoW" Signal Of 1977

Late one night in the summer of 1977, a large radio telescope outside Delaware, Ohio intercepted a radio signal that seemed for a brief time like it might change the course of human history. The telescope was searching the sky on behalf of SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, and the signal, though it lasted only seventy-two seconds, fit the profile of a message beamed from another world. Despite its potential import, several days went by before Jerry Ehman, a project scientist for SETI, noticed the data. He was flipping through the computer printouts generated by the telescope when he noticed a string of letters within a long sequence of low numbers---ones, twos, threes and fours. The low numbers represent background noise, the low hum of an ordinary signal.

However since 1977 technology has increased drastically and our capabilities to search beyond the standard radio spectrum have also increased. Logic tells us that at some point along a civilizations timeline they would use some method of communication, be it RF (radio Frequency) Radar wavelengths, various types of light based communications like simple lasers, gamma rays, x-rays, ultra violet rays, infra-red, microwaves, etc.... Any of the above mentioned wavelengths can be used to communicate and it would only seem logical that we should continue searching the skies for these signals. Should we really take the chance on missing a signal from an outside intelligence simply because of lack of funding?

I think it's disgusting and sad that SETI can't be funded to it's full potential by governments from all over the world.