What is Frank Drake?
{{Infobox scientist |name = Frank Drake<br>[[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]] |image = Frank Drake at Cornell, October 2017 (cropped).jpg |caption = Frank Drake in 2017 |birth_name = Frank Donald Drake |birth_date = {{birth date|1930|5|28}} |birth_place = [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]], [[United States|U.S.]] |death_date = {{death date and age|2022|9|2|1930|5|28}} |death_place = [[Aptos, California|Aptos]], [[California]], U.S. |residence = |citizenship = |nationality = [[United States|American]] |ethnicity = |field = [[Astronomy]] |work_institutions = |alma_mater = [[Cornell University]]<br/>[[Harvard University]] |doctoral_advisor = |doctoral_students = |known_for = [[SETI]]<br/>[[Drake equation]] |author_abbrev_bot = |author_abbrev_zoo = |influences = |influenced = |prizes = |religion = |footnotes = |signature = }} '''Frank Donald Drake''' [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]] (May 28, 1930 &ndash; September 2, 2022) was an American [[astronomer]] (a [[scientist]] who studies the [[universe]] and what is inside it) and [[astrophysicist]] (someone who studies the [[physics]] of [[astronomy]]). He is most famous for joining in the first new [[SETI]] (Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence) experiment in 1960 and for making the [[Drake equation]]. ==Early Life== Born on the 28th of May 1930 in Chicago to Richard and Winifred Drake. As a young boy in Chicago, Drake loved [[electronics]] and [[chemistry]]. He says that he thought of life on other [[planets]] but never talked about the idea with his family or teachers.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.activemind.com/Mysterious/Topics/seti/biography_drake.html |title=Space:SETI-Frank Drake - Biography |access-date=2011-11-17 |archive-date=2011-11-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111124134511/http://activemind.com/Mysterious/Topics/SETI/biography_drake.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> He e