Cosmic Search Issue 05 Page 33 - SETI Meetings by Editors

North American AstroPhysical Observatory (NAAPO)

Cosmic Search: Issue 5
(Volume 2 Number 1; Winter (Jan., Feb., Mar.) 1980)
[Article in magazine found on page 33]

SETI Meetings
By: Editors

The great interest in SETI is evidenced by the many meetings and conferences held on this subject. In this and future issues of COSMIC SEARCH we will report on all of the conferences of which we are aware and, whenever possible, to list the titles of papers given and the authors presenting them.
1. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Center Conference on "Life in the Universe" at Moffett Field, California, June 19 and 20, 1979. Some attendees called this meeting the largest and most wide-ranging SETI conference ever held. Highlights of this conference are given by Robert S. Dixon in this issue's SEnTInel. Watch COSMIC SEARCH for announcement of publication of complete proceedings expected to be available later this year.
2. Congress of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) at Munich, Germany, September 16-22, 1979. 8th Annual International Review Meeting on Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence, sponsored by the International Academy of Astronautics. Rudolph Pesek and Jill Tarter were Co-Chairmen. There were two sessions with a total of 8 papers. Jill Tarter of NASA-Ames, the Co-Chairman, will be reporting on this meeting in the next issue of COSMIC SEARCH.
3. International Astronomical Union (IAU) Joint Session on "Strategies for the Search for Life in the Universe" at Montreal, Canada, August 15, 1979. An account of this historic meeting is presented elsewhere in this issue of COSMIC SEARCH by Michael D. Papagiannis, Chairman of the Organizing Committee for the session.
4. Conference on "Where Are They? A Symposium on the Implications of Our Failure to Observe Extraterrestrials" at College Park, Maryland, on November 2 and 3, 1979. Michael H. Hart, Trinity University, Ben Zuckerman, University of Maryland, and Michael D. Papagiannis, Boston University, were the organizers. The meeting is divided into four sessions as follows:
Session I: Overview

Michael H. Hart, "Introduction: Where Is Everybody?"
Benjamin Zuckerman, "The Search for Radio Signals from Extraterrestrial Civilizations"
Robert Sheaffer, "Shortcomings in the Hypothesis that the Earth Is Being Visited by Extraterrestrials"
Sebastian von Hoerner, "The Unlikelihood, If N is Large, That No Race Will Explore and Colonize"
Ronald Bracewell, "Preemption of the Galaxy by the First Advanced Civilization"
Session II: Feasibility of Interstellar Travel and Colonization

Freeman Dyson, "Spaceships and Propulsion Techniques"
Cliff E. Singer, "O'Neill Colonies in Space"
Robert Ettinger, "Possible Techniques for Freezing Space Voyagers"
James Oberg, "Planetary Engineering"
Eric C. Jones, "An Estimate of the Time Needed to Colonize the Galaxy"
Session III: Biological Considerations

Cyril Ponnamperuma, "Pre-biotic Chemical Evolution"
Hubert Yockey, "A Calculation, Using Information Theory, of the Probability of Spontaneous Biogenesis"
P. Edward Argyle, "Chance and Origin of Life"
Gerald Feinberg and Robert Shapiro, "Possible Forms of Life in Environments Very Different from the Earth"
Gerrit L. Verschuur, "Cosmic Hazards to Planetary Life"
Session IV: Possible Sites for Extraterrestrial Life

Michael Papagiannis, "Colonies in the Asteroid Belt, and a Missing Term in the Drake-Sagan Equation"
Virginia Trimble, "The Age of the Galactic Disk"
Shiv S. Kumar, "The Relative Frequency of Single and Multiple Stars"
Pat Harrington, "The Frequency of Planetary Systems in Our Galaxy"
Michael H. Hart, "Atmospheric Evolution, and an Analysis of the Drake-Sagan Formula"
Virginia Trimble will be reporting on this meeting in the next issue of COSMIC SEARCH.

5. Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Conference on "Life in the Universe" at Paris, France, November 19-21, 1979. The conference session Chairmen are Frank Drake and Nikolai Kardashev. Nine speakers are scheduled to discuss the evolution of intelligence and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. The session is organized by the Research Group on Cosmic Chemistry, Chemical Evolution and Exobiology in collaboration with UNESCO, the European Space Agency and the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales. The Organizing Chairman is Dr. Yves Coeckelenbergh, Secretary of the Joint Committee for Scientific Cooperation of the Council of Europe, F-67006, Strasbourg, CEDEX, France. Jill Tarter will be reporting on this meeting in the next issue of COSMIC SEARCH.
6. Congress of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) at Tokyo, Japan, September 21-28, 1980. 9th Annual International Review Meeting on Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence sponsored by the International Academy of Astronautics. The Organizing Committee for this meeting consists of Rudolph Pesek, Czechoslovakia; Jill Tarter, U.S.A., V. V. Gogosov, U.S.S.R.; George Marx, Hungary; and M. Subotowich, Poland.

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