The Search for Life in the Universe
Thursday, June 3, 2010, 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
Are we alone? It’s a question that has obsessed us for centuries, and now we have the technology to do more than wonder. Scientists on the hunt for distant planets and extraterrestrial intelligence will take us on their expeditions into faraway galaxies and barely visible realms. Nobel Laureate Sir Paul Nurse journeys to the brink of discovery with Jill Tarter, David Charbonneau, and Steven Squyres to contemplate what it would mean to have company in the cosmos.
Moderator: Sir Paul Nurse
Participants:
David Charbonneau has been called a “celestial detective” for his systematic search for planets orbiting nearby sun-like stars. Uncovering the secrets of these exoplanets, as they’re called, could conceivably lead to the first direct evidence of life beyond Earth.
Paul Nurse is a Nobel Laureate and the President of Rockefeller University, where he continues to do research in cell biology. He is the former Chief Executive of Cancer Research, UK. In 1999 he was knighted in Great Britain for his contributions to cancer research.
Michael Russell’s research into the emergence of life and early evolution will help determine whether earth alone supports life in our universe. He theorizes that oxygenic photosynthesis, acting upon iron sulfide deposits in volcanic, oceanic vents, allowed the precursors of protein and RNA to form. Dr. Russell’s study of 360-million-year-old mineral deposits in Ireland led to the insight that iron sulphite cells may have provided three-dimensional molds for the first cell walls. 
Steven W. Squyres is a veteran of several of NASA’s planetary exploration missions, including the Voyager mission to Jupiter and Saturn, the Magellan mission to Venus, and the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous mission. His main areas of scientific study have been the history and distribution of water on Mars and the possible existence and habitability of a liquid water ocean on Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons.
Astronomer Jill Cornell Tarter is one of few researchers to have devoted her career to hunting for signs of sentient beings elsewhere through a systematic search for radio signals from Earth's galactic neighbors. She has received wide recognition in the scientific community, including the Lifetime Achievement Award from Women in Aerospace, two Public Service Medals from NASA and a 2009 TEDPrize. In 2004, Time Magazine named her one of the Time 100 most influential people in the world, and she was portrayed by Jodie Foster in the movie Contact.
