Tatel radio telescope and US astrophysicist Frank Drake (born 1930). Drake is most famous for devising the 'Drake Equation', a theoretical attempt to estimate the number of extraterrestrial civilizations in our galaxy. In 1960, he used this 85-foot-diameter radio telescope to conduct the first radio search for extraterrestrial intelligence, known as Project Ozma. Drake was director of the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute's Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, holding this position from its founding in 1984 to his retirement in 2010. SETI is an organisation dedicated to finding intelligent radio signals from outer space. Drake worked for the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Green Bank, West Virginia, USA, from 1958.