West Virginia University is hosting a guest lecturer who will be exploring the search for life in the universe.

Dan Werthimer, director of the Berkeley Center for SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Research, will be discussing the question “Is Anybody Out There?” on March 20 at 7 p.m. in Brooks Hall room 202.

The talk is hosted by the WVU Department of Physics and Astronomy and is supported by the NASA West Virginia Space Grant Consortium.

The center searches for signs of extraterrestrial life by looking for radio and optical signals that would exhibit signs of other civilizations. Werthimer’s SETI@home project analzes data from volunteers in 226 countries. These volunteers have contributed millions of years of computer time to form one of the Earth’s most powerful super computers.

Werthimer will also discuss future telescopes, SETI experiments and when we might discover otherworldly civilizations.

“Dan Werthimer is one of the world leaders in radio astronomy instrumentation today—this is particularly relevant to WVU given that Radio Astronomy is one of its Mountains of Excellence and we are delighted to host him,” said Duncan Lorimer, associate professor of physics and astronomy at WVU.

“Dan has pursued SETI research tirelessly over the past 30 years. As the brains behind SETI@Home, he is without question the world expert in this area.”

For more information on Werthimer’s talk, visit the event’s Facebook page.

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CONTACT: Devon Copeland, Director of Communication and Marketing, Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
304-293-6867, Devon.Copeland@mail.wvu.edu

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