Jill Tarter

Jill Tarter, an astronomer, is recognized for her work on the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). She holds the Bernard M. Oliver Chair for SETI Research at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, and serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for that institution. Tarter earned her Bachelor of Engineering Physics Degree with Distinction from Cornell University and her Master’s Degree and a Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of California, Berkeley. In her Ph.D. dissertation, she coined the term "brown dwarf."

Throughout her career, Tarter has been involved in major scientific projects concerning the search for extraterrestrial life, including the radio-search project SERENDIP and NASA's High-Resolution Microwave Survey (HRMS). She was the project scientist for HRMS in 1992 and 1993 and later became the director of Project Phoenix. Her scientific contributions are greatly acknowledged in the field. In 2002, she was recognized by Discover magazine as one of the 50 most important women in science. She was also named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine in 2004.

Beyond her career in astronomy, Tarter has been part of various boards and advisory committees. She was a speaker at the Starmus Festival in 2011 and later joined the Starmus Board of Directors. She is a member of the CuriosityStream Advisory Board and the Space for Humanity Board of Advisors. Tarter has been a Legacy Fellow of the American Astronomical Society as of 2020 and was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021.

Over the years, Tarter has received a multitude of awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award by Women in Aerospace in 1989, the Telluride Tech Festival Award of Technology in 2001, and the Adler Planetarium Women in Space Science Award in 2003. She was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2002 and a Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences in 2003. Furthermore, she has been awarded two public service medals from NASA, and in 2005, the International Astronomical Union’s Small Bodies Naming Committee named and approved asteroid 74824 Tarter (1999 TJ16) in her honor.

Tarter's career has also been documented in popular culture. Her work is depicted in Carl Sagan's novel "Contact," and she was a significant influence on the protagonist Ellie Arroway, played by Jodie Foster in the film adaptation. Additionally, she has been featured in John Boswell's Symphony of Science music video, "The Poetry of Reality (An Anthem for Science)."

Tarter remains committed to the education of future citizens and scientists. She has been actively involved in curriculum development for children and has led two projects funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), NASA, and others. The Life in the Universe series and Voyages Through Time are the two significant curriculum projects she has worked on. Her work and her publications remain a significant contribution to the ongoing search for extraterrestrial intelligence and the education of future scientists.