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Astrobiology pp 13–32Cite as

Detectability of Intelligent Life in the Universe: A Search Based in our Knowledge of the Laws of Nature

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Abstract

Almost forty years ago, the Space Science board of the US National Academy of Sciences considered it appropriate to sponsor a preliminary examination of the problem of extraterrestrial intelligent life in the universe. An informal conference was held in November 1961, at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory at Green Bank, West Virginia. The purpose of the discussions was to examine the prospects for the existence of other societies in the galaxy with whom communications might be possible; to attempt an estimate of their number; to consider some of the technical problems involved in the establishment of communication; and to examine ways in which our understanding of the problem might be improved [70]. To facilitate orderly discussion, one of host organizers, Frank Drake1, sought to formulate the conference’s central problem as an equation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía (CONICET), C.C. 8- Sucursal 25, (1425), Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Guillermo A. Lemarchand

  2. Centro de Estudios Avanzados, (Universidad de Buenos Aires), C.C. 8- Sucursal 25, (1425), Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Guillermo A. Lemarchand

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  1. Guillermo A. Lemarchand
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Italy

    Julián Chela-Flores

  2. Instituto de Estudios Avanzados (IDEA), Venezuela

    Julián Chela-Flores

  3. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía (CONICET), Argentina

    Guillermo A. Lemarchand

  4. Centro de Estudios Avanzados, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Guillermo A. Lemarchand

  5. Department of Biochemical and Biophysical Sciences, University of Houston, Houston, TX, 77204-5934, USA

    John Oró

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Lemarchand, G.A. (2000). Detectability of Intelligent Life in the Universe: A Search Based in our Knowledge of the Laws of Nature. In: Chela-Flores, J., Lemarchand, G.A., Oró, J. (eds) Astrobiology. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4313-4_2

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