H. Paul Shuch (born May 23, 1946) is an American

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts Scientific method, scientific research to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, ...

and

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

who has coordinated

radio amateurs An amateur radio operator is someone who uses equipment at an amateur radio station to engage in two-way communication, two-way personal communications with other amateur operators on Frequency, radio frequencies Amateur radio frequency allocatio ...

to help in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). Shuch, an

aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astrona ...

microwave Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from about one meter to one millimeter corresponding to frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz respectively. Different sources define different frequency ran ...

technologist, and radio amateur call sign N6TX, is believed by colleague Jack Unger to be the creator of the world's first commercial home satellite TV receiver. Recently a visiting professor a
Lycoming College
and Heidelberg University of Applied Sciences, Shuch continues to volunteer as the Executive Director Emeritus of The SETI League, Inc. He has taught

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...

, and

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

on various

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

campuses for over four decades. He is also active in

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

fandom A fandom is a subculture composed of fans characterized by a feeling of empathy and camaraderie with others who share a common interest. Fans typically are interested in even minor details of the objects of their fandom and spend a significant ...

and

filk music Filk music is a musical culture, genre, and community tied to science fiction, fantasy, and horror fandom and a type of fan labor. The genre has existed since the early 1950s and been played primarily since the mid-1970s. Etymology and defin ...

Early life

Born Howard Paul Wakes in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, Shuch later adopted the name of his stepfather, physicist Milton L. Shuch (12 Oct 1922 - 20 Jan 2014). Shuch earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

industrial technology Industrial technology is the use of engineering and manufacturing technology to make production faster, simpler, and more efficient. The industrial technology field employs creative and technically proficient individuals who can help a company ach ...

from

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sys ...

and a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

(Ph.D.) in engineering from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. Shuch is a

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

-era

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

veteran and active instrument

flight instructor A flight instructor is a person who teaches others to operate aircraft. Specific privileges granted to holders of a flight instructor qualification vary from country to country, but very generally, a flight instructor serves to enhance or evaluate ...

. After his military career he worked as an engineer for several

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo County ...

companies before commencing his academic career. He founded Microcomm Consulting in 1975, where in 1978 he designed and produced a commercial home

satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna comm ...

receiver.

SETI activities

Shuch first learned about

Search for extraterrestrial intelligence The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) is a collective term for scientific searches for intelligent extraterrestrial life, for example, monitoring electromagnetic radiation for signs of transmissions from civilizations on other pl ...

(SETI), from Nicholas Marshall, W6OLO, a Hungarian engineer with whom he served on the Board of Project

OSCAR Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology), ...

, builders of the world's first non-Government satellite. Marshall introduced Shuch to longtime SETI proponent

Bernard M. Oliver Bernard M. Oliver (May 17, 1916 – November 23, 1995), also known as Barney Oliver, was a scientist who made contributions in many fields, including radar, television, and computers. He was the founder and director of Hewlett Packard ( HP) la ...

, then vice-president of Engineering at the

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...

Company. Oliver in turn introduced Paul to SETI pioneers

Frank Drake Frank Donald Drake (May 28, 1930 – September 2, 2022) was an American astrophysicist and astrobiologist. He began his career as a radio astronomer, studying the planets of the Solar System and later pulsars. Drake expanded his interests t ...

and

Philip Morrison Philip Morrison (November 7, 1915 – April 22, 2005) was a professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is known for his work on the Manhattan Project during World War II, and for his later work in quantum physi ...

, who encouraged his continued interest and involvement in the development of SETI radio telescopes, as a spin-off from his design of early satellite TV receivers. While in graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley, Shuch became acquainted with most of the members of the NASA SETI team in nearby Mountain View. Many SETI pioneers had been affiliated with Berkeley, either as faculty members, students, or postdoctoral researchers, and a SETI-friendly environment (some have called it a 'SETI cabal') persists there. Among Shuch's professors was the prominent radio astronomer William J. "Jack" Welch, a member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

, who further encouraged Shuch's SETI activities. One of Shuch's classmates in Welch's radio telescope design course was

Dan Werthimer Dan Werthimer is co-founder and chief scientist of the SETI@home project and directs other UC Berkeley SETI searches at radio, infrared and visible wavelengths, including the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Radio Emissions from Nearby Developed Int ...

, who went on to become chief scientist of the SETI@home distributed computing experiment. When the NASA SETI program was cancelled by the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

in 1993,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

industrialist Richard Factor established the nonprofit, membership-supported SETI League, which he invited Shuch to head. Shuch became the organization's first Executive Director, a position he now holds on an emeritus basis. He designed the hardware and protocols for, and remains Principal Investigator on, the SETI League's Project Argu

all-sky survey. Shuch is principal investigator for the Invitation to ETI

a web-based SETI experiment initiated by his colleague, Allen Tough. Along with Ivan Almar of the

Konkoly Observatory Konkoly Observatory ( hu, Konkoly Thege Miklós Csillagászati Intézet; obs. code: 053) is an astronomical observatory located in Budapest, Hungary is part of the Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences ( hu, Csillagászati és ...

, Budapest, Shuch developed the

San Marino Scale The San Marino Scale is a suggested scale for assessing risks associated with deliberate transmissions from Earth aimed to possible extraterrestrial intelligent life. The scale evaluates the significance of transmissions from Earth as a function ...

br>
an analytical tool for quantifying the significance of transmissions from Earth into Space.Almar, Ivan, "Shouting in the jungle: the SETI transmission debate." ''Journal of the British Interplanetary Society'' 60(4):142-146, April 2007

Honors and awards

*1999 Fellow of the

British Interplanetary Society The British Interplanetary Society (BIS), founded in Liverpool in 1933 by Philip E. Cleator, is the oldest existing space advocacy organisation in the world. Its aim is exclusively to support and promote astronautics and space exploration. Stru ...

*2007 Full Member of the

International Academy of Astronautics The International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) is an independent non-governmental organization established in Stockholm ( Sweden) on August 16, 1960, by Dr. Theodore von Kármán, and recognized by the United Nations in 1996. The IAA has electe ...

References

External links

IAA SETI Permanent Study GroupInvitation to ETIMicrocomm ConsultingProject ArgusSearchLitesSETI League
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shuch, H. Paul American astronomers 1946 births Living people Amateur radio people University of California, Berkeley alumni West Valley College alumni Filkers American aerospace engineers Search for extraterrestrial intelligence American male singer-songwriters United States Air Force personnel of the Vietnam War San Jose State University alumni Scientists from Chicago