SSL’s Dan Werthimer to receive Drake Award

Dan Werthimer was honored by the SETI Institute for his contributions to the search for and understanding of life beyond Earth. (Dan Werthimer photo)

SSL’s Dan Werthimer, a co-founder of the popular screen saver SETI@home and a UC Berkeley astronomer who developed radio receivers to aid the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, has co-won the 2021 Drake Award, named after the father of SETI, astronomer Frank Drake. Werthimer will share the award with Paul Horowitz of Harvard University.

“It’s a tremendous honor to receive this award in Frank’s name,” said Werthimer. “He was a huge and inspiring influence on my life and was the one who enticed me into SETI work.”

Read the full Berkeley News story and the SETI Institute press release.