Project Ozma was the first modern scientific experiment to search for extraterrestrial intelligence using radio telescopes.
Key Facts
- Telescope diameter
- 85 feet (26 m)
- Stars observed
- Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani
- Marker frequency
- 1,420 MHz (21 cm hydrogen line)
- Observation duration
- ~150 hours over four months
- Led by
- Frank Drake, Cornell University
- False signal detected
- April 8, 1960 (aircraft origin)
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
By the late 1950s, advances in radio telescope technology and theoretical work on interstellar communication led scientists to consider that radio waves near the 21 cm hydrogen line could serve as a universal channel for contact with extraterrestrial civilizations. Frank Drake sought to test this hypothesis systematically.
Beginning in 1960 at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia, Frank Drake used an 85-foot radio telescope to scan Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani across a 400 kHz band near 1,420 MHz. Approximately 150 hours of intermittent observation over four months produced no confirmed extraterrestrial signals.
Project Ozma established the methodological framework for subsequent SETI research, directly inspiring the Drake Equation and later programs. A follow-up effort, Ozma II, extended the search to 670 stars between 1972 and 1976, cementing radio-based SETI as a legitimate scientific discipline.