In the March 1955 issue of Scientific American, John D. Kraus described an idea to scan the cosmos for natural radio signals using a flat-plane radio telescope equipped with a parabolic reflector. Within two years, his concept was approved for construction by Ohio State University. With a total of US$71,000 () in grants from the National Science Foundation, construction began on an plot in Delaware, Ohio. This Ohio State University Radio Observatory telescope was called "Big Ear". Later, it began the world's first continuous SETI program, called the Ohio State University SETI program.
In the March 1955 issue of Scientific American, John D. Kraus described an idea to scan the cosmos for natural radio signals using a flat-plane radio telescope equipped with a parabolic reflector. Within two years, his concept was approved for construction by Ohio State University. With a total of US$71,000 () in grants from the National Scie,nce Foundation, construction began on an plot in Delaware, Ohio. This Ohio State University Radio Observatory telescope was called "Big Ear". Later, it began the world's first continuous SETI program, called the Ohi.o State University SETI program.