Paul Allen funds ET search

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, pledged to donate $US13.5 million for research into extra-terrestrial life. With this contribution, Allen will have given $US25 million for construction of the Allen Telescope Array (ATA), a network of 350 radio telescopes being built to find signs of life in space, said Thomas Pierson, director of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute.
The radio telescopes will measure the density of the early universe, the formation of stars and magnetic fields. They will also be capable of searching for "possible signals from technologically advanced civilisations elsewhere in the galaxy," according to a SETI statement.
The announcement of Allen's donation coincided with the completion of the project's research and development phases, which Allen funded with an $US11.5 million donation.
"I am very excited to be supporting one of the world's most visionary efforts to seek basic answers to some of the fundamental question about our universe and what other civilisations may exist elsewhere," Allen said in a ceremony in Mountain View, California, where SETI is based.