Shuch, an aerospaceengineer, microwave technologist, and radio amateur call sign N6TX, is believed by colleague Jack Unger to be the creator of the world's first commercial home satellite TV receiver.[1][2] Recently a visiting professor at Lycoming College[3] and Heidelberg University of Applied Sciences,[4] Shuch continues to volunteer as the Executive Director Emeritus of The SETI League, Inc.[5] He has taught physics, astronomy, and engineering on various university campuses for over four decades. He is also active in science fictionfandom and filk music.[6]
Early life
Born Howard Paul Wakes in Chicago, Illinois, United States, Shuch later adopted the name of his stepfather, physicist Milton L. Shuch (12 Oct 1922โ20 Jan 2014).
Shuch first learned about Search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), from Nicholas Marshall, W6OLO, a Hungarian engineer with whom he served on the Board of Project OSCAR, builders of the world's first non-Government satellite. Marshall introduced Shuch to longtime SETI proponent Bernard M. Oliver, then vice-president of Engineering at the Hewlett-Packard Company. Oliver in turn introduced Paul to SETI pioneers Frank Drake and Philip Morrison, who encouraged his continued interest and involvement in the development of SETI radio telescopes, as a spin-off from his design of early satellite TV receivers.
While in graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley, Shuch became acquainted with most of the members of the NASA SETI team in nearby Mountain View. Many SETI pioneers had been affiliated with Berkeley, either as faculty members, students, or postdoctoral researchers, and a SETI-friendly environment (some have called it a 'SETI cabal') persists there. Among Shuch's professors was the prominent radio astronomer William J. "Jack" Welch, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, who further encouraged Shuch's SETI activities. One of Shuch's classmates in Welch's radio telescope design course was Dan Werthimer, who went on to become chief scientist of the SETI@home distributed computing experiment.
When the NASA SETI program was cancelled by the United States Congress in 1993, New Jersey industrialist Richard Factor established the nonprofit, membership-supported SETI League,[10] which he invited Shuch to head. Shuch became the organization's first Executive Director,[11] a position he now holds on an emeritus basis. He designed the hardware and protocols for, and remains Principal Investigator on, the SETI League's Project Argus The SETI League, Inc.: Project Argus all-sky survey.[12][13][14]
^"Dr. H. Paul Shuch - The Entertainer". The Columbus Optical SETI Observatory. Retrieved 2016-01-28. Besides presenting a paper at SPIE's OSETI II conference, Dr. H. Paul Shuch, Executive Director of The SETI League, entertained attendees as they gathered for the workshop session at the close of the conference. Here are just some of Paul's extensive repertoire of SETI filk songs.