Discusses his early invention of the helical antenna, which became widely used on satellites in space and the space station, and was later incorporated into an array of 96 antennae, forming one of the first radio telescopes. This was the forerunner of a much larger array built by Kraus called the "Big Ear", which was to discover some of the most distant objects in the universe known at that time; it was also a model for a similar array four times larger built in France that functions today. He comments on the use of the "Big Ear" as a teaching tool for studying radio emissions which were later found to correspond to extremely distant optical objects. The "Big Ear" also influenced the search for extra-terrestrial life and the work of other scientists, including Alan Hynek, Marion Pool, Sir Arthur Clarke. Also discussed are the discovery of cosmic rays and pulsars, Victor Hess, and the future of research to understand the universe.