Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence
The actual "search for extra-terrestrial life," as it is known today started around 1959 with the advent of radio astronomy. In 1960, Frank Drake, a radio astronomer using a 26-meter radio telescope in West Virginia conducted the first modern "SETI-style" search. The SETI Institute was formed in 1984. Many people consider their aim a futile mission that is more suited to science fiction than science.