Listening to the Universe: Exploring with Sound

In the movie “Contact,” there’s a character, a blind astronomer, who’s involved in the search or extra-terrestrial intelligence. Well, that role was based on a real-life scientist who spends much of his time monitoring the sounds of the universe. I’m Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by DuPont.

“I got into the search for extraterrestrial intelligence through radio.”

Kent Cullers is a physicist with the SETI Institute.

“I was an amateur radio operator from age eleven and at first I heard the sounds of distant civilizations on the earth. Then heard the sounds of Jupiter and the Sun. These were radio waves, of course, turned into sound coming from distant places and then I realized that it was actually possible that we could detect the signals of distant technologies like ours and that I found utterly exciting. We wouldn’t just have to contemplate whether or not extraterrestrial civilizations existed, we could actually prove that they existed, and that seemed like something worth devoting a life to.”

With the help of radio telescopes and computers, Kent Cullers sifts through the vast array of electromagnetic signals in space searching for the special characteristics of a signal that could have originated from another planet.

“When I listen to the sounds of space, I very much feel that I am out in the distant cosmos. The sounds capture me. And part of this is probably because I’m blind and so listening is a very important part of my existence. Space is literally, to my ears, the roar of the cosmos. Everything from the complex sounds of rotating pulsars to the rather soothing sound of the big bang. The most incredible explosion ever known cooled so that we could listen to it in the radio.”

Pulse of the Planet is presented by DuPont, bringing you the miracles of science, with additional support provided by the National Science Foundation.

Listening to the Universe: Exploring with Sound

Kent Cullers, the blind astronomer who was the basis for a character in the movie "Contact", became fascinated with listening to outer space as a child amateur radio operator.
Air Date:04/13/2000
Scientist:
Transcript:

In the movie "Contact," there's a character, a blind astronomer, who's involved in the search or extra-terrestrial intelligence. Well, that role was based on a real-life scientist who spends much of his time monitoring the sounds of the universe. I'm Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by DuPont.

"I got into the search for extraterrestrial intelligence through radio."

Kent Cullers is a physicist with the SETI Institute.

"I was an amateur radio operator from age eleven and at first I heard the sounds of distant civilizations on the earth. Then heard the sounds of Jupiter and the Sun. These were radio waves, of course, turned into sound coming from distant places and then I realized that it was actually possible that we could detect the signals of distant technologies like ours and that I found utterly exciting. We wouldn't just have to contemplate whether or not extraterrestrial civilizations existed, we could actually prove that they existed, and that seemed like something worth devoting a life to."

With the help of radio telescopes and computers, Kent Cullers sifts through the vast array of electromagnetic signals in space searching for the special characteristics of a signal that could have originated from another planet.

"When I listen to the sounds of space, I very much feel that I am out in the distant cosmos. The sounds capture me. And part of this is probably because I'm blind and so listening is a very important part of my existence. Space is literally, to my ears, the roar of the cosmos. Everything from the complex sounds of rotating pulsars to the rather soothing sound of the big bang. The most incredible explosion ever known cooled so that we could listen to it in the radio."

Pulse of the Planet is presented by DuPont, bringing you the miracles of science, with additional support provided by the National Science Foundation.