Science · Research & investigation
Sofia Sheikh
Radio astronomer and technosignature researcher
Also known as Sofia Z. Sheikh
Who they are
Sofia Sheikh is a radio astronomer who studies possible technological signals and other radio phenomena. She led the analysis and manuscript of the blc1 verification study, which traced a promising signal candidate to local interference. Her work illustrates how searching for extraterrestrial intelligence includes identifying terrestrial imitations and making candidates withstand explicit tests.
Her blc1 analysis supplies a concrete example of candidate verification in scientific SETI.
Selected contributions
Selected works
Academic paper · 2021 · Published journal article
Analysis of the Breakthrough Listen signal of interest blc1 with a technosignature verification framework
Sheikh and collaborators set out a verification framework and apply it to the blc1 radio signal. Their interference analysis shows why a promising narrowband candidate could not be treated as an extraterrestrial transmission.
Reading scope & citation
Reused prior inspected evidence: Original full-text paper: abstract, interference analysis, discussion and metadata
DOI: 10.1038/s41550-021-01508-8
In the timeline
Biography sources
- Analysis of the Breakthrough Listen signal of interest blc1 with a technosignature verification framework ↗Sofia Sheikh and coauthors / Nature Astronomy
- Sofia Sheikh ↗SETI Institute