Editing Frank Drake (section)

== Early life and education ==
Born on May 28, 1930, in Chicago, Illinois,<ref name="natgeo">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/frank-drake-pioneer-in-the-search-for-alien-life-dies-at-92|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220902222004/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/frank-drake-pioneer-in-the-search-for-alien-life-dies-at-92|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 2, 2022|title=Frank Drake, pioneer in the search for alien life, dies at 92|date=September 2, 2022|website=Science}}</ref> Drake showed an early interest in electronics and chemistry.<ref name="seti-obit">{{Cite web|url=https://www.seti.org/frank-d-drake-1930-2022|title=Frank D. Drake 1930 – 2022}}</ref> Drake first considered the possibility of [[life existing on other planets]] as an eight-year-old, after conjecturing that if human civilization was the result of chance then civilizations might also exist elsewhere in the universe.<ref name="famous-scientists">{{Cite web|url=https://www.famousscientists.org/frank-drake/|title=Frank Drake – Biography, Facts and Pictures}}</ref>

He enrolled at [[Cornell University]] on a [[NROTC|Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps]] scholarship.<ref name="natgeo"/> Once there he began studying astronomy. His ideas about the possibility of [[extraterrestrial life]] were reinforced by a lecture from astrophysicist [[Otto Struve]] in 1951.<ref name="famous-scientists"/> After receiving a B.A. in Engineering Physics, Drake served briefly as an electronics officer on the [[heavy cruiser]] [[USS Albany (CA-123)|USS ''Albany'']]. He then went on to graduate school at [[Harvard University]] from 1952 to 1955 where he received a M.S. and Ph.D. in Astronomy. His [[doctoral advisor]] was [[Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin]].<ref name=payne>{{cite web | title =Personal Portrait: CECILIA PAYNE | url =https://lydianz.com/personal-portrait-cecilia-payne/ | access-date =May 2, 2020 | archive-date =May 6, 2021 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20210506050002/https://lydianz.com/personal-portrait-cecilia-payne/ | url-status =usurped }}</ref><ref name="natgeo"/>