The Elusive Wow: Searching for Extraterrestrial Intelligence [Englisch] [Gebundene Ausgabe]

If intelligent alien signals ever reached Earth, they would likely be picked-up only through a specialized and directed search using one of our ~80 astronomical radio telescopes operating around the globe. Hallmarks of such an amazing signal of intelligent alien origin would be it's proven origination from deep space and it's "narrow-bandwidth", meaning that the signal energy would be confined to a narrow frequency range (like our Earth radio stations, and unlike our Sun or radio galaxies.) Such a signal has been searched for on and off for decades. But space is vast, and frequency-space even more so. Only one transmission fitting these two criteria has ever been detected.... It is famously called the "WOW Signal", so-named because of what astronomer Jerry Ehman wrote on the observatory computer print-out when he spotted its reception - he wrote: "WOW!" This detection occured in August 1977 and was the most intriguing event in the long-running and successful astronomical radio emission survey conducted by Ohio State University's "Big Ear" Radio Observatory between 1963-1998.

In this wonderful book, Robert Gray describes the WOW signal attainment, and chronicles his WOW follow-up work. This is the very work that astronomers should have done - follow up on the signal and try to reacquire it. Gray is not an astronomer, yet to try to track this absolutely fascinating "Cold Case" of a possible alien signal, he did the impossible. Consider: when an astronomer wants to use a world class radio telescope, the two credentials he/she must present, even to apply, are a PhD in Astronomy and a funding institution. Gray had neither of these, and further, his observing proposals (looking for aliens) were, to say the least, suspect. Yet he managed to learn a great deal of radio astronomy and build a sound and respected colleague-base, and was granted precious observing time on three world class radio observatories to pursue the elusive WOW. Gray even built a centimeter wavelength observatory in his own back yard to pursue this signal. This book follows the author's journey attempting to learn the origin of this signal, and reacquire it. In relating his decades-long quest, he gives the reader fresh firsthand insight into the ongoing global search for signals of extraterrestrial intelligent origin.

I very much enjoyed this book. The writing style is simple and understandable. Gray describes his efforts with the right combination of enthusiasm, wonder and humility. Two of the passages that I found most amusing are when he went to a SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) conference and later felt he had spoken about his theories a little too much, and another passage where he remarks offhandedly, that trying to build a centimeter wave radio receiver completely on your own is a mistake.

Bob Gray is chasing a ghost, something seemingly ephemeral that can be neither confirmed nor denied. Some would say he's obsessed with it. It's the same magnificent obsession that drove artists and architects of old to devote their lives to creating the wonders of the Renaissance. For nearly thirty years, the amateur radio astronomer from Chicago has been on the trail of the elusive Ohio State University "Wow!" signal, the most promising, yet enigmatic, SETI candidate to date. His new book documents his efforts, and his frustrations.

"The Elusive Wow" is really two books in one. The first part begins with a detailed account of the reception on 15 August 1977, at the "Big Ear" radio telescope facility, of a microwave signal exhibiting all the characteristics one would expect of a message from extraterrestrial intelligence, except for one: it disappeared, never to repeat. Gray describes that initial detection as a tug on the cosmic fishing line, intriguing but inconclusive. Lacking verification at the locus of initial reception, Bob set out on a quest to duplicate the detection, by casting a broader net. He devotes half a dozen chapters to his observations, first from his own backyard radio telescope (a design which presaged The SETI League's later Project Argus instruments), and later from Harvard, Tasmania, and the Very Large Array. In all cases, his net came up empty. His fascination and frustration are equally palpable.

The second half of the book is a more conventional treatise, and those not well versed in SETI folklore should probably read it first. In eight chapters (seven of which are reminiscent of the seven factors of the Drake Equation), Gray lays out the basics of SETI science. He includes a good historical overview of searches since Project Ozma, and offers his own insights into the Fermi Paradox: "Where are they?"

The book concludes with an exhaustive bibliography which should prove useful for those wishing to delve deeper, as well as a good list of web links (some, unfortunately, no longer valid, as is the nature of the Internet), a collection of formulas which should help those readers bringing themselves up to speed on radio telescopes and communications technology, and a photo gallery of some of the SETI enterprise's key players (including a delightful one of Paul Horowitz as a very young radio amateur).

My only disappointment in reading this otherwise fascinating book is that The SETI League and its Project Argus all-sky survey merited only the briefest one-sentence mention, and that merely to differentiate our search from an Ohio State University antenna design of the same name. In fact, it would have served Gray well to have devoted a chapter to the efforts of other amateur radio astronomers. We are, after all, members of a large and very mutually supportive community. Some of us even share Bob Gray's obsession.

"The Elusive Wow" by Robert Gray tells the story of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). Gray describes the immense (though not impossible) problems of searching for extraterrestrial intelligence using today's technology.

In an interview with Ross Andersen for the "The Atlantic Monthly" (February 16, 2012), Robert Gray tells how a mysterious (and now famous) signal received by astronomers in 1977 led him to write "The Elusive Wow".

"The Elusive Wow" by Robert Gray is a serious book regarding the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, and yet it is written in a way that makes this book both informative and enjoyable to read.