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Abraham (Avi) Loeb is the Frank B. Baird, Jr., Professor of Science at Harvard University and a New-York Times bestselling author.
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 113) on a wide range of topics, including
black holes, the first stars, the search for extraterrestrial life and
the future of the Universe. He had been the
longest serving Chair of Harvard's
Department of Astronomy (2011-2020), Founding Director of
Harvard's Black
Hole Initiative (2016-2021) and Director of
the Institute for Theory and Computation (2007-present)
within the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
. 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. Click here
for Loeb's commentaries on innovation and diversity.
Staff Assistant:
Astron. Dept. Admin.:
ITC Administrator:
BHI Administrator:
Theory Div. Admin.:
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*Extraterrestrial summary, HMH (2021).
IN THE NEWS:
*Alien Technology, BBC Science Focus Magazine (March 2, 2021).
*To Qualify As `Scientific', Evidence Has to Be Reproducible, Scientific American (March 1, 2021).
*Review of Extraterrestrial, Matt Williams, Universe Today (February 28, 2021).
*"And yet it deviated!", Rob La Frenais, Makery (February 26, 2021).
*Instant Die Zeit Bestseller status for Extraterrestrial, a week after publication, Die Zeit, Germany (February 25, 2021).
*Review of Extraterrestrial, Paul Gilster, Centauri Dreams (February 23, 2021).
*The Shrapnel that Killed the Dinosaurs, Scientific American (February 16, 2021).
*What Killed the Dinosaurs?, c|net (February 15, 2021).
*The Comet that Killed the Dinosaurs, CfA Press Release (February 15, 2021).
*Aliens Must Be Out There, New York Times (February 11, 2021).
*Alien Hunter, The Economist (February 11, 2021).
*Interview, New Scientist (February 10, 2021).
*The Most Important Question (in German), Die Welt (February 8, 2021).
*ET Visit, Phys.Org (February 7, 2021).
*Instant New York Times Bestseller status for Extraterrestrial, a week after publication, New York Times (February 3, 2021).
*Review of Extraterrestrial, Science Magazine (February 1, 2021).
*Q&A about Extraterrestrial, Scientific American (February 1, 2021).
*The Black Hole that May Have Affected Life on Earth, Scientific American (January 31, 2021).
*Review of Extraterrestrial, The Guardian (January 31, 2021).
*Review of Extraterrestrial, Washington Post (January 29, 2021).
*ET-Arecibo, Pioneer Works (January 27, 2021).
*Experimental Tests of Theology, Scientific American (January 26, 2021).
*"Extraterrestrial", Telerama (in French) (January 27, 2021).
*"Extraterrestrial", Podcast with Deepak Chopra (January 26, 2021).
*Taking aliens seriously, Podcast with Sean Carroll (January 26, 2021).
*"Extraterrestrial", Podcast with Brian Keating (January 26, 2021).
*Review of "Extraterrestrial", Dennis Overbye, New York Times (January 26, 2021).
*ET, Observer (January 25, 2021).
*Aliens, New York Magazine (January 24, 2021).
*Are We the Smartest Kid on the Block?, Drot, Hungary (January 23, 2021).
*The Sherlock Holmes Method, Science Friday (January 22, 2021).
*Why Assume that ET Might Want to Visit Us?, Scientific American (January 21, 2021).
*`Oumuamua Q&A, Boston Globe (January 18, 2021).
*Review of "Extraterrestrial", The New Yorker (January 18, 2021).
*Unlikelihood of Radio Signal from Alpha Centauri, Universe Today (January 17, 2021).
*Episode number 1596, The Joe Rogan Experience (January 14, 2021).
*Aliens, Black Holes and the Mystery of Oumuamua, Podcast with Lex Fridman (January 14, 2021).
*Message from the Nearest Star?, Scientific American (January 12, 2021).
*Review of forthcoming book "Extraterrestrial", Business Insider (January 3, 2021).
*Review of forthcoming book "Extraterrestrial", New York Post (January 2, 2021).
*No Hydrogen Ice for `Oumuamua, Selection from 2020, AAS Nova (December 29, 2020).
*Searching for Probes, The Sun (December 29, 2020).
*The Cosmic Dawn of Technology, Scientific American (December 28, 2020).
*Sixth Among the Most Important Universe-Altering Stories of 2020, Inverse (December 25, 2020).
*Multi-Messenger SETI (in Spanish), Codigo
Oculto (December 24, 2020).
*Ten Space Discoveries 2020, Live Science (December 23, 2020).
*Searching for Probes, Futurism (December 22, 2020).
*Multi-Messenger SETI, Scientific American (December 22, 2020).
*Black Holes Are Finally In Vogue, Compernicus Webinar (December 15, 2020).
*Video on Loeb's "Surfing a Supernova", Scientific American (December 15, 2020).
*Endless Creation Out of Nothing, Scientific American (December 12, 2020).
*Message in the Cosmic Microwave Background, Live Science (December 8, 2020).
*"Big Thinkers Event", New Scientist (February 11, 2021).
*Three of Loeb's students were selected to "Forbes 30 Under 30" over the past five years (Amir Siraj, Henry Lin and Tony Pan), Forbes Magazine (December 1, 2020).
*"Noah's Spaceship", Scientific American (November 30, 2020).
*"The Scientific Benefits of Social Distancing", Scientific American (November 24, 2020).
*"The Space Object 2020 OS", Universe Today (November 20, 2020).
*"The Empty Half of the Glass May Also Be Full", Scientific American (November 14, 2020).
*"Search for Life", Discover (November 9, 2020).
*"Rubin Observatory's Search for Interstellar Objects", Universe Today (November 8, 2020).
*"Black Holes Are Finally Trending", Scientific American (November 7, 2020).
*"Is the Space Race Good For Humanity?", Intelligence Squared US, IBM Watson and Bloomberg TV (November 6, 2020).
*"Living Near a White Dwarf", Scientific American (October 30, 2020).
*"Spin of Supermassive Black Hole in the Milky Way", Harvard Crimson (October 23, 2020).
*"Searching for the Atoms of Life", Scientific American (October 20, 2020).
*"The black hole at Milky Way Center Has a Low Spin", CfA Press Release (October 20, 2020).
*"Earth Skimming Meteors Could Have Brought Life to Venus", Harvard Crimson (October 1, 2020).
*"Life and Fate", Inference (September 30, 2020).
*"Nature's Splendor Exceeds Our Imagination", Scientific American (September 29, 2020).
*"Fermi's Paradox", Universe Today (September 28, 2020).
*"Earth Life May Have Traveled to Venus Aboard Sky-Skimming Asteroid", Space.com (September 24, 2020).
*"Social Distancing on a Cosmic Scale", Scientific American (September 23, 2020).
*"Could Life Exist Deep Underground in Mars?", CfA Press Release (September 23, 2020).
*"Implications of Alien Life to Humans", Jolley Swagman (September 23, 2020).
*"The Hawking Limit", Scientific American (September 14, 2020).
*"Is there a black hole in our backyard?", New York Times (September 11, 2020).
*"Physics Needs Another Einstein", Salon (September 6, 2020).
*"Far-Out Findings from the Cosmos", Harvard Gazette (September 4, 2020).
*"What if Our Age Was a Million Years?", Die Weltwoche (in Swiss) (September 2, 2020).
*"The Dangers of Intellectual Territorialism", Scientific American (August 31, 2020).
*"Survival of Bacteria in Space", Wired (August 26, 2020).
*"The Sun May Have Started Its Life With a Binary Companion", CfA Press Release (August 18, 2020).
*"`Oumuamua Was Not a Molecular Hydrogen Iceberg", CfA Press Release (August 17, 2020).
*"What if We Could Live for a Million Years?", Scientific American (August 16, 2020).
*"Uncovering Our Solar System's Shape", NASA (August 5, 2020).
*"A Movie of the Evolving Universe", Scientific American (August 3, 2020).
*"New Physics in Cosmology", Sky and Telescope (July 31, 2020).
*"The Power of Scientific Brainstorming", Scientific American (July 24, 2020).
*"Lunar Observatory for Gravitational Waves", Universe Today (July 24, 2020).
*"Mitigating Future Risks (in Spanish)", El Mundo, Spain (July 19, 2020).
*"Living With Scientific Uncertainty", Scientific American (July 15, 2020).
*"Odd Radio Circles", Salon (July 13, 2020).
*"Is Planet Nine a Primordial Black Hole?", CfA Press Release (July 9, 2020).
*"Flare Coincident with a Gravitational Wave Source", Scientific American (July 1, 2020).
*"Risk for Life from Asteroids", Forbes (June 30, 2020).
*"Top ArXiv Papers for two weeks in a row", Sunny Vangozzi (June 24, 2020).
*"An Audacious Explanation for Fast Radio Bursts", Scientific American (June 24, 2020).
*"Search for Technosignatures", CfA Press Release (June 19, 2020).
*"Was `Oumuamua Made of Solid Hydrogen Ice?", ApJL (June 14, 2020).
*"Primordial Black Holes", Daily Galaxy (June 14, 2020).
*"Einstein: Visualize the Impossible", PR Newswire (June 10, 2020).
*Theories of Everything, Scientific American (June 9, 2020).
*Enigmatic 157 Day Period of a Fast Radio Burst, Gizmodo (June 8, 2020).
*Is `Planet Nine' a Black Hole?, Forbes magazine (June 3, 2020).
*Growth History of Black Holes, CfA Press Release (June 1, 2020).
*Visionary Science Takes More than Just Technical Skills, Scientific American (May 25, 2020).
*"Cuvee Oumuamua", Bonny Doon Vineyard (May 25, 2020).
*Betelgeuse Is Bright Again, Salon (May 15, 2020).
*Are We Alone?, New Scientist Live, London, October 2019 (Posted May 15, 2020).
*Hubris of the Anthropocene, Daily Galaxy (May 13, 2020).
*Using Starshot to Search for Planet Nine, Live Science (May 7, 2020).
*Can Planet Nine Be Detected Gravitationally by a Sub-Relativistic Spacecraft?, arXiv (May 4, 2020).
*In Search of Naked Singularities, Scientific American (May 3, 2020).
*Board for Global Catastrophes, Scientific American (April 30, 2020).
*Impact of Fast Supernova Dust on the Moon, Popular Science (April 30, 2020).
*What Might Be Speeding Up the Expansion of the Universe?, Quanta Magazine (April 27, 2020).
*PCAST, OSTP, White House (April 23, 2020).
*We Don't Have Planet B, Jefferson Society (April 22, 2020).
*Q&A, Jefferson Society (April 22, 2020).
*COVID-19: a Moon Landing Moment for Science, with Dario Gil, IBM (April 22, 2020).
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