As previously predicted by Morrison and Cocconi the signal’s frequency was close to the value of 1420.41 MHz. The sequence circled by Ehman, 6EQUJ5, represents the intensity variation of the radio signal over time, measured as unitless signal-to-noise ratio and ranging from 0 to 36, with the noise averaged over the previous few minutes.
Already in 1959, the Cornell physicists Philip Morrison and Giuseppe Cocconi speculated that extra extraterrestrial civilizations attempting to communicate via radio signals might probably use a frequency of 1420 megahertz, which is naturally emitted by hydrogen, the most common element in the universe and therefore familiar to all its inhabitants. ĭuring the early 1970s, the Ohio State University assigned the Big Ear telescope, back then located near the Perkins Observatory in Delaware, Ohio, to the scientific search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). While checking through the data, Ehman came across the famous Wow! signal. In 1977, Ehman analyzed large amounts of data (by hand), processed by an IBM 1130 mainframe computer and printed on perforated paper. He was later appointed professor at the Franklin University in Columbus.
In the later 1960s, Ehman began working as a radio astronomer with the Big Ear radio telescope and also as a faculty member in the Ohio State University Department of Electrical Engineering. from the University of Michigan in 19, respectively. Ehman received a bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Buffalo in 1961, and an M.A. Ehman discovered the signal a few days later, while reviewing the recorded data and was so impressed that he circled the reading on the computer printout and wrote the comment Wow! on its side.
On August 15, 1977, a strong narrowband radio signal was received by the Big Ear radio telescope of the Ohio State University, United States, then assigned to a SETI project. The original printout with Ehman’s handwritten exclamation is preserved by Ohio History Connection
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