THE DRAKE EQUATION (2015)

The Drake Equation is a mathematical formula from 1961, which calculates the chance of finding alien life. The largest radio telescopes in the world are located in Green Bank in the American state of West Virginia. To shield them from interference, the National Radio Quiet Zone was set up around it in the nineteen fifties –  a sparsely populated area covering thirty thousand square kilometres. Without Wi-Fi, radio stations, telephone masts and all sorts of electromagnetic energy, this area is a tech-free zone. Paul Kranzler and Andrew Phelps photographed in Green Bank, where scientists from around the world coexist with the local population, often families who have resided here for hundreds of years living off cattle farming, hunting and the lumber mills. Those sensitive to  HYPERLINK “https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_fields” \o “Electromagnetic fields” electromagnetic fields have also come in recent years, wishing to escape the radiation of Wi-Fi and GSM – everyone’s life here is thus determined by different codes.