Wednesday 23 May 2001
8 pm
Physics building, Theatre 1
University of Tasmania, Sandy Bay
People have always been fascinated by the question of whether we are alone in the Universe. There are good and plausible arguments that suggest that there are likely to be many other civilisations in our Galaxy, with whom we may be able to communicate. There are other good and plausible arguments that suggest that these other civilisations are likely to be rare or absent. Frankly, our knowledge of how life evolves is inadequate, and the only way that we will know if there is "anyone out there" is by going and taking a look. This lecture will describe recent attempts to detect signals from other civilisations, discuss our chances of success and what we might find, and describe the plans for how we might handle our first contact.
Ray P. Norris is Deputy Director of the CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility, and is also an Honorary Research Professor at the University of Tasmania, and an Adjunct Professor at Swinburne University. He received an Honours Degree in Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge in 1975, and a PhD in radio-astronomy at the University of Manchester in 1978. He came to Australia in 1983 to work on the development of the Australia Telescope, and was involved in the design and construction of the telescope. His astrophysical research currently revolves around the complementary questions of how galaxies formed in the early Universe, and why some galaxies have black holes in their centres while others don't. He also dabbles in the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence, and chairs the SETI post-detection committee of the International Astronautical Federation. He is also active in the promotion and communication of science, particularly to the next generation of potential scientists.