With the contribution, Allen will have given 25 million dollars for the construction of the Allen Telescope Array (ATA), a network of 350 radio telescopes being built to find signs of life in space, said Thomas Pierson, director of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute.

The radio telescopes will measure the density of the early universe, the formation of stars and magnetic fields.

They will also be capable of searching for "possible signals from technologically advanced civilizations elsewhere in the galaxy," according to a SETI statement.

The announcement of Allen's donation coincided with the completion of the project's research and development phases, which Allen funded with an 11.5-million-dollar donation.

The 13.5 million donation will pay for the first two phases of construction of the ATA, according to the statement.

One network of 32 telescopes will be available for research by the end of 2004 and the entire network of 350 telescopes will be completed "late in the decade," it said.

SETI and the Radio Astronomy Laboratory of the University of California at Berkley teamed up for the ATA project.

"I am very excited to be supporting one of the world's most visionary efforts to seek basic answers to some of the fundamental question about our universe and what other civilizations may exist elsewhere," Allen said in a ceremony in Mountain View, California, where SETI is based.

SPACE.WIRE