Frank Drake is an American astronomer and astrophysicist best known for his work in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). He developed the Drake Equation, a formula used to estimate the number of active, communicative extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy. This equation considers factors like the rate of star formation and the fraction of stars with planets. In 1960, Drake conducted the first scientific search for extraterrestrial signals, known as the Project Ozma. He used a radio telescope to listen for signals from two nearby stars, Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani. His pioneering efforts laid the groundwork for modern SETI research.