Extraterrestrial Life: Are We the Sharpest Cookies in the Jar?

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The search for extraterrestrial life is one of the most exciting frontiers in Astronomy. First tentative clues were identified close to Earth in the form of the weird interstellar object 'Oumuamua in 2017. Our civilization will mature once we find out who resides on our cosmic street by searching with our best telescopes for unusual electromagnetic flashes, industrial pollution of planetary atmospheres, artificial light or heat, artificial space debris or something completely unexpected. We might be a form of life as primitive and common in the cosmos as ants are in a kitchen. If so, we can learn a lot from others out there through the new frontier of "space archaeology."

Abraham (Avi) Loeb is the Frank B. Baird, Jr., Professor of Science at Harvard University and a best-selling author. He received a Ph.D. in Physics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel, led the first international project supported by the Strategic Defense Initiative, and was subsequently a long-term member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. Dr. Loeb has written eight books, including most recently, Extraterrestrial, and about 800 papers on a range of topics, including black holes, the first stars, the search for extraterrestrial life, and the future of the universe. He was the longest-serving chair of Harvard's Department of Astronomy (2011-2020), founding director of Harvard's Black Hole Initiatieve, and Director of the Institute for Theory and Computation. Dr. Loeb is a former member of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, a former chair of the Board on Physics and Astronomy of the National Academies, and a current member of the Advisory Board for "Einstein: Visualize the Impossible" of Hebrew university. He also chairs the Breakthrough Starshot Intiative and serve as the Science Theory Director for all intiatives of the Breakthrough Prize Foundation.