CANADIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO SETI -PAST AND PRESENT

摘要

Canadians have historically contributed to all aspects of the scientific search for extraterrestrial intelligent life (SETI) in the universe. During the 1970's Canada's largest radio telescope at Algonquin Radio Observatory (ARO) was used to search for extraterrestrial beacon transmissions at the water molecule frequency. In 1982 the Algonquin facility was again approved for use in a SETI search for strongly polarized radio signals emitted from artificial transmitters. Aside from direct SETI searches, Canadians have contributed to a greater understanding of the origin of life, biology, and the evolution of intelligence. For example, a Canadian paleontologist created a furor in 1982 with a life-sized clay model depicting a dinosaur after an additional 65 million years of evolution. The importance of the social sciences for SETI was championed by Allen Tough and other Canadians who presented ideas and projects during the 1990's and 2000's that generated new ways of thinking not only about SETI, but also about the societal implications of first contact and the effect of our own culture and history on SETI. Canadians participate in SETI@Home, are members of the SETI League, operate their own amateur search programs on backyard telescopes, have led the effort to send directed transmissions to space, and serve on the International Academy of Astronautics SETI Permanent Committee and other groups focused on SETI or astrobiology. The Canadian Astrobiology Training Program for undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral researchers interested in the scientific search for life in the universe is underway at several Canadian universities and Canadian scientists are working on innovative instrumentation for near infrared optical SETI detectors to look for pulsed laser signals emanating from extraterrestrial civilizations.