Astrobiology and the People Who Study It

“After sixty years of searching the Universe from our relatively fixed vantage point in the inner Solar System, there have been no credible detections of extraterrestrial life. However, searches are becoming more complex, and more manifestations of life are being considered than ever before, leading to growth in the related field of astrobiology. This book looks at the proponents of this field, some of whom have been invested for decades, while others are relative newcomers, bringing in complementary expertise from biology, chemistry, geology, machine learning and further afield. The book takes the form of nearly 30 individual ‘memoirs’ — some autobiographical, some not — spanning a range of lived experience, but all united in their goal to search for life elsewhere.

One endearing aspect of the accounts in the book is that they deal with the ‘behind the scenes’ moments that are the lifeblood of any scientific endeavour (indeed, perhaps any endeavour) that are rarely if ever captured in the scientific literature. They tell of the chance encounters, the (mis)fortunes of circumstance, the serendipity that moves science on in fits and starts. It is also wonderful to hear tales of the inflection points in people’s lives that diverted them into a scientific career, such as finding a broken microscope or escaping an accounting class to the only other option: physics. Another source of fascination is the range of walks of life from which the subjects come, from growing up in pre-Sputnik era New York to 1980s Lima, Peru.

The title of this book emphasizes the ‘astrobiology’, but the content is very much people-focused. And rightly so: these are the people, through their inspiration and perspiration, who will one day answer one of humanity’s greatest questions: ‘are we alone in the Universe?’ It is worth getting to know them.”
— Nature Astronomy 10, pages 1250–1251 (2026) 1038/s41550-026-02971-x

Nicolle E. B. Zellner is the H. & Grace A. Dow Trustees’ Professor in the Sciences and a Professor of Physics at Albion College in Michigan. She has also served as NASA Program Scientist in the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters. Supported by the NSF and NASA, Dr. Zellner’s research interests focus on understanding the impact history of the Earth-Moon system and how those impacts affected the conditions for life on Earth. Over the course of her career, she has taught thousands of students and mentored dozens of student research partners. As a woman in science, she advocates for those approaches and practices that support workforce development in the STEM fields. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a recipient of the Carl Sagan Medal for Excellence in Public Communication.

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