Longest-running search for extraterrestrial communication

On Tuesday, 20 November 1984, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) was born. Its objectives are simple: to investigate the origins of life in the universe by researching the possibility of receiving communications from space. The SETI Institute began full operations on 1 February 1985. Working with a number of radio telescopes since its inception, the institute analyses data from radio telescope feeds to "listen" for signal sequences that are unlikely to arise in nature (such as the radio and TV signals that the Earth transmits every day). In listening to space, the SETI programme has also had the benefit of detecting astronomical radio subjects such as pulsars and active radio galaxies. As of November 2013, SETI employs more than 120 scientists, educators and support staff.