Yuri Milner’s Breakthrough Listen programme is searching for life — but not as we know it. Scanning the skies with the world’s top telescopes, Listen is on the hunt for radio signals that may prove the existence of alien civilisations.
A technology investor, Giving Pledge signatory, and writer of Eureka Manifesto, Yuri Milner launched the project (one of five Breakthrough Initiatives) back in 2015 with Stephen Hawking.
Now, Breakthrough Listen has teamed up with the MeerKAT Observatory in South Africa to supercharge the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI).
Eureka Manifesto: A Mission for Humanity
Yuri Milner is passionate about space exploration and the possibility of life beyond Earth, as his short book, Eureka Manifesto, makes clear. Published in 2021, Eureka Manifesto is an inspiring ride through the Israeli billionaire’s philosophy about humanity’s place in the Universe.
The Breakthrough Foundation and the Breakthrough Initiatives
Yuri Milner and his wife Julia are the founders of the Breakthrough Foundation, an organisation that helps spread scientific ideas, supports researchers in the fundamental sciences and mathematics, and invests in scientific work. Some of this work takes the form of the Breakthrough Initiatives.
The five Breakthrough Initiatives include:
- Breakthrough Listen — the largest-ever scientific programme aimed at discovering evidence of alien civilisations.
- Breakthrough Watch — a project searching nearby planets for proof of primitive cellular organisms.
- Breakthrough Starshot — the first attempt to design and build a space probe that could reach our nearest star system.
- Breakthrough Message — a competition (with a prize pool of $1 million) to create a message for an alien civilization.
- Breakthrough Discuss — a yearly conference for academics to discuss life in the Universe and space exploration.
The Giving Pledge
The Breakthrough Initiatives, along with other projects like the Breakthrough Prize, represent part of the Milners’ Giving Pledge commitment. Founded by Warren Buffett and Melinda and Bill Gates to encourage the world’s richest to donate their wealth to charitable works, the Giving Pledge has over 230 signatories from 28 countries.
By signing the Giving Pledge in 2012, the Milners publicly promised to fund and support scientific causes.
Listening to a Million Stars
In December 2022, Breakthrough Listen announced the start of observations using a new instrument positioned at the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory’s (SARAO) MeerKAT telescope. The new search will scan more than a million stars in two years, boosting the number of targets Listen will observe by a factor of 1,000.
MeerKAT’s 64 dishes allow an unprecedented view of the Universe’s stars, which are the technosignature targets of most interest to Listen. Proxima Centauri, Earth’s nearest neighbour star, is amongst the first targets to scan, owing to its orbiting planets. These small, rocky worlds live in the star’s habitable zone, which means there is a higher chance that life could have evolved there.
As Breakthrough Listen has helped SETI gain momentum and attention in recent years, this programme has become a major area for international research. Listen and SARAO plan to collaborate on creating research opportunities for data processing experts and astronomers to work with the Africa-based programme.
The Breakthrough Initiatives continue to lead the way in the hunt for extraterrestrial intelligence, and SARAO Chief Scientist Dr. Fernando Camilo is eager for South Africans to participate.
“The telescope was planned and developed here in South Africa,” Camilo said. “It’s very exciting that young South Africans will have the chance to be involved at the forefront of the search for life beyond Earth.”