Key Takeaways:
- Cocconi and Morrison's 1959 Nature paper, "Searching for Interstellar Communications," provided a foundational scientific framework for the then-unconventional field of SETI.
- The paper proposed methodologies for SETI, notably focusing on radio wave communication and suggesting potential transmission frequencies and signal patterns for extraterrestrial communication.
- Many of the concepts introduced in the paper became standard practices within the SETI community.
- The publication's impact is evident in its influence on Frank Drake, who subsequently organized the first SETI conference in 1961.
On Sept. 19, 1959, the paper “Searching for Interstellar Communications” was published. Printed in the respected scientific journal Nature and written by Cornell University physicists Giuseppe Cocconi and Philip Morrison, the work established a scientific framework and legitimacy for a field that previously lacked credibility. Cocconi and Morrison examined methodologies for humans’ search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) – among other ideas, using radio waves for communication, positing the frequency at which aliens might transmit messages, and discussing the patterns that would be used to mark a signal from another civilization. Many of these concepts would become standards of the SETI field. The publication prompted Frank Drake – famous for Drake’s Equation, estimating the mathematical likelihood of intelligent life existing in the galaxy – to organize the first SETI conference in Green Bank in 1961. Cocconi and Morrison’s paper famously concluded of seeking out alien life: “The probability of success is difficult to estimate; but if we never search, the chance of success is zero.”
