Episode 58- Dr. Avi Loeb: Daring Harvard scientist defies the scientific establishment & his search for Extraterrestrial Life
Dr. Avi Loeb
Professor of Science, Harvard University, New York Times Best Selling Author
Today we are joined by Dr. Avi Loeb. Dr. Loeb is the Frank B. Baird, Jr., Professor of Science at Harvard University and a bestselling author (in lists of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly, Die Zeit, Der Spiegel, L'Express and more). He received a PhD in Physics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel at age 24 (1980-1986), led the first international project supported by the Strategic Defense Initiative (1983-1988), and was subsequently a long-term member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton (1988-1993). Loeb has written 8 books, including most recently, Extraterrestrial (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2021), and about 800 papers (with an h-index of 117) on a wide range of topics, including black holes, the first stars, the search for extraterrestrial life and the future of the Universe. Loeb is the Director of the Institute for Theory and Computation (2007-present) within the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics , and also serves as the Head of the Galileo Project (2021-present). He had been the longest serving Chair of Harvard's Department of Astronomy (2011-2020) and the Founding Director of Harvard's Black Hole Initiative (2016-2021). He is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the American Physical Society, and the International Academy of Astronautics. Loeb is a former member of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) at the White House, a former chair of the Board on Physics and Astronomy of the National Academies (2018-2021) and a current member of the Advisory Board for "Einstein: Visualize the Impossible" of the Hebrew University. He also chairs the Advisory Committee for the Breakthrough Starshot Initiative (2016-present) and serves as the Science Theory Director for all Initiatives of the Breakthrough Prize Foundation. In 2012, TIME magazine selected Loeb as one of the 25 most influential people in space and in 2020 Loeb was selected among the 14 most inspiring Israelis of the last decade. You can find more about Dr. Loeb, including his commentaries on innovation and diversity here.
Show Notes:
Princeton University | Official Website
Department of Astronomy | Harvard University
Black Hole Initiative | Harvard University
The natural history of ‘Oumuamua by The ‘Oumuamua ISSI Team | Nature Astronomy
Why Oumuamua, the Interstellar Visitor, Looks Eerily Familiar | The New York Times
2020 Mars Mission Perseverance Rover | NASA
Was Our Universe Created in a Laboratory? by Avi Loeb | Scientific American
Variable Speed of Light | Wikipedia
Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth by Avi Loeb | HMH Books
Famous Mars Meteorite's 'Fossils': What Arctic Rocks Can Tell Us | Space.com
Noah’s Spaceship by Avi Loeb | Scientific American
Was the Interstellar Object ‘Oumuamua a Nitrogen Iceberg? by Avi Loeb | Scientific American
/‘Oumuamua as an N2 ice fragment of an exo-Pluto
surface: I. Size and Compositional Constraints by Alan P. Jackson and Steven J. Desch | arvix.org
