Extraterrestrial exploration with Andrew Siemion
Air Dates: November 16-22, 2020
Science fiction is full of stories about communication and contact with civilizations beyond the stars. Andrew Siemion leads a multi-national effort to scan the heavens for indications of intelligent life.
Dr. Andrew Siemion is an astrophysicist and director of the Berkeley Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Research Center. His research interests include high-energy time-variable celestial phenomena, astronomical instrumentation and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Siemion is the Principal Investigator for the Breakthrough Listen program, the 鈥渓argest ever scientific research program aimed at finding evidence of civilizations beyond Earth.鈥 In 2018, he was named the Bernard M. Oliver Chair for SETI at the SETI Institute and was elected to the International Academy of Astronautics as a Corresponding Member for Basic Sciences. In September 2015, he testified on the current status of astrobiology to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the United States Congress. He is jointly affiliated with Radboud University Nijmegen and the University of Malta.
On this episode of 鈥淪tory in the Public Square,鈥 Seimion says there are two ways to approach the universe when looking for intelligent life. 鈥淵ou can approach it by projecting all of the worst parts of humanity鈥攁ll of the fear and the danger and the conflict鈥攁nd project those out to other civilizations that we might encounter. Or you can project the most beautiful parts of humanity鈥攖he art and the love and the comradery that also is a part of the human condition.鈥 He imagines that if there is something potentially negative to discover beyond our Earth, it is just as possible there are beautiful things to discover too.
鈥Story in the Public Square鈥 broadcasts each week on public television stations across the United States. In Rhode Island and southeastern New England, the show is broadcast on Rhode Island PBS on Sundays at 11 a.m. and is rebroadcast Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. An audio version of the program airs Saturdays at 8:30 a.m. & 6:30 p.m. ET, Sundays at 3:30 a.m. & 11:30 p.m. ET on SiriusXM鈥檚 popular P.O.T.U.S. (Politics of the United States), channel 124. 鈥淪tory in the Public Square鈥 is a partnership between the Pell Center and The Providence Journal. The initiative aims to study, celebrate and tell stories that matter.