Paul Allen sponsors search for alien life

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has donated $13.5m to help fund the search for extraterrestrial life. The California-based SETI Institute, which is dedicated to the search for life beyond Earth, said the donation from Allen, who co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates, would be used to create a radio telescope array of more than 200 satellite dishes that will measure signals from space, inform Zdnet.co.uk

"It will expand our understanding of how the universe was formed," says Mr Allen, a keen fan of science fiction.

Space exploration has seen renewed interest recently with the NASA Mars rovers and President George W Bush's outline plans for an ambitious space initiative. Funding the search for ET is a drop in the ocean for Mr Allen, whose estimated worth is $36bn.

It was Mr Allen who persuaded Bill Gates to drop out of Harvard and join him in creating Microsoft in 1975. He then quit full-time at Microsoft in 1983 after being diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease, report BBC.