RESEARCH TRAILBLAZERS
Jill Tarter
Famous for: Co-founding the SETI Institute, which has been searching for intelligent extraterrestrial life since 1984.
A stronomers discover new exoplanets almost every day – worlds that are orbiting alien suns outside our Solar System. And as the exoplanet count increases, so do the number of scientists who believe that at least some of the worlds may include life.
But intelligent life? Every time we approach this subject in Science Illustrated we get letters warning that we are veering from science to pseudo-science. ‘Aliens are not science!’ we are told. Yet the search for life is one of humanity’s greatest pursuits. And world-renowned astronomer Jill Tarter has spent her life listening to possible frequencies of remote civilisations.
If there is intelligent life, why have we not heard from them yet? Should we fear the day when we do? And is contacting alien civilisations a really bad idea? If anyone has answers, it’s Jill Tarter.
? When did your interest in what is ‘out there’ begin?
Growing up in the 1950s, my father was my entire universe. His enthusiasm for science and research was highly contagious, and thanks to him I was introduced to the amazing world of astronomy. I grew up at a time when space exploration was taking its first steps, and fantasies about what science and space exploration could lead to had almost no limits. My passion for astronomy was cemented when I got a telescope as a teenager.
