It was a small acorn from which a mighty oak has grown. On November 20, 1984 Tom Pierson, a grants administrator from San Francisco State University, made the drive to Sacramento on a bureaucratic mission. When he returned to the Bay Area, he had a signed and sealed letter from California’s Secretary of State establishing the nonprofit SETI Institute.

At its founding, the Institute had one project, and one scientist, namely the NASA SETI program and its lead investigator, Jill Tarter.

Today, the Institute boasts 100 Ph.D. researchers and studies everything from the possibility of microbes on Mars to new techniques for uncovering advanced intelligence in star systems hundreds of light-years’ distant. It also has a vigorous program of education and outreach.

The SETI Institute is pleased by what it has accomplished during its first 35 years. The next 35 promise to be even better.