Dr. Seth Shostak
Seth Shostak, Ph.D. is Senior Astronomer and Director of the Center for SETI Research and Fellow at the SETI Institute, located in Mountain View, California. He is the Host of the weekly radio show/podcast Big Picture Science. Read Can we detect alien artifacts?
Seth is widely known for his work in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) and for his extensive efforts in popularizing astronomy and science for the public. He is an enthusiastic participant in the SETI observing programs.
A key part of his public outreach includes hosting the weekly science radio show Big Picture Science, which is also referred to as an astrobiology radio program, Are We Alone?. His work involves communicating complex scientific ideas about astrobiology and the search for life beyond Earth. He has even made a public bet that we will find extraterrestrial life within 24 years (from 2012). Read AskScience AMA Series: I’m Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer at the SETI Institute and host of Big Picture Science, and I’m looking for aliens. AMA!
His current focus includes actively participating in SETI observing programs and speculating on the best strategies to find extraterrestrial intelligence. This involves looking at potential targets like red dwarf stars, which are smaller and longer-lived than the sun.
He is also keenly focused on outreach activities, aiming to interest the public, especially young people, in science in general and astrobiology in particular. He also discusses the technical and astronomical limitations to interstellar messaging and potential transmission strategies. Read Contact with Aliens by 2036? Astronomer Seth Shostak wants to believe — and does.
Seth earned his Bachelor’s Degree of Science in Physics from Princeton University and his Ph.D. in Astrophysics from the California Institute of Technology.
His early career was dedicated to radio astronomy research focusing on galaxies. Between 1975 and 1983, he conducted this research for over a decade as a Research Associate at the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute in Groningen, The Netherlands, utilizing the Westerbork Radio Synthesis Telescope.
Before this, he was a Research Associate at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Charlottesville, Virginia, from 1972 to 1974 and a Senior Systems Analyst at Penn Central Transportation Co. in Philadelphia between 1974 and 1975.
During his career, he has published more than 60 research papers in refereed professional journals. After his tenure at Kapteyn, he founded Digital Images Computer Animation (DIGIMA) in Groningen, one of the Netherlands’ first 3D computer animation production houses, and led its operations from 1983 to 1988.
An enthusiastic amateur filmmaker and photographer, Seth also applied his skills to creating special effects for his own films. The possibilities of the computer motivated him and his colleague to write software to make animations on the computers in the computer center. For this, he received the Wubbo Ockels Prize in 1988, Groningen.
He later left to go back to the USA, where he was going to work for his brother, who had a software business in California. His brother was working on computer graphics software in conjunction with database technology. Between the years in the Netherlands, Seth was also awarded the Henk Nieuwenhuis Prize for film, Groningen, in 1977 and the Jaap S. Nieuwenhuis Award from the Netherlands Association for Scientific Film and Television in 1984.
After arriving from The Netherlands, Seth joined Mira Technology in Los Altos, California, as a Senior Software Engineer from 1988 to 1989. Later, he was also involved with Cable TV Channel 27 in Mountain View, California, between 1990 and 1991. He worked at the SETI Institute as a Public Programs Scientist from 1991 to 2001 before becoming Senior Astronomer in 2001.
As an author, Seth has written four books, including three trade books on SETI. His authored trade books are Sharing the Universe: Perspectives on Extraterrestrial Life, Cosmic Company: The Search for Life in the Universe, and Confessions of an Alien Hunter: A Scientist’s Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.
Sharing the Universe is his first popular tome, appearing in March 1998. In 1999, it was chosen as a Book of the Month Club science selection. He also authored The Search for Intelligent Life in Space (The Great Courses on Tape). He coauthored the textbook Life in the Universe with Jeff Bennett, with the Second Edition published in 2006 and the latest 5th edition in 2022. Another of his coauthored books is His Master’s Voice with Stanislaw Lem.
Seth authored SETI at Wider Bandwidths? and edited Third Decennial US-USSR Conference on SETI, A.S.P. Conference Series Vol. 47, 1993. Also read The Allen Telescope Array: The First Widefield, Panchromatic, Snapshot Radio Camera, What ET will look like and why should we care. and When Will We Detect the Extraterrestrials?
He has been involved with several films and television productions, both as an actor and in advisory roles. He appeared as an actor playing an Enterprise Communications Officer in the video production Star Trek: Of Gods and Men (2007). His advisory roles include serving as an Astrobiology Advisor for The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008), a Science Consultant for Alien Encounter (1999), and a Science Advisor for the TV Movie Life Beyond Earth (1998). More recently, he appeared as himself, identified as Self – Astronomer, in the video/trailer I Want to Believe 2: UFOs and UAPs (2023) and in the TV Series Riddle of the Skies.
He has written over 50 articles for magazines and newspapers on film and video and authored a monthly column on film techniques in European magazines between 1980–1982 and 1985–1990. He has also written several commissioned scripts for public relations videos for commercial clients and two scripts for planetarium shows.
He is a frequent guest and commentator on various television programs, including Larry King Live, Colbert Report, Nightline, The O’Reilly Factor, Good Morning America, and CNN News, as well as shows on Discovery Channel, Learning Channel, History Channel, BBC, and National Geographic Television.
Beyond his books and films, Seth has written more than six hundred popular articles on science and technology in popular magazines and web articles on various topics, including astronomy, technology, film, and television.
He makes regular contributions to NBC News MACH. He gives about 70 talks annually at both educational and corporate institutions. He was a Distinguished Speaker for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics for five years. He also lectures on astronomy and other subjects at the California Academy of Sciences and has given talks at various institutions like UC Berkeley Extension, Astronomy Days, San Jose Kiwanis Club, and the Fromm Institute.
He is a frequent guest and commentator on radio programs, including Coast to Coast AM, Startalk, The Space Show, and NPR. He also hosts the weekly science radio show Big Picture Science with science journalist Molly Bentley. The show explores surprising connections in science and technology and includes regular Skeptic Check episodes. Listen to UFOs and Possible Aliens, with Seth Shostak.
Seth has received several awards for his contributions to popularizing astronomy and science. In 2004, he won the Klumpke-Roberts Prize for the Popularization of Astronomy, specifically recognized by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific for his contributions to the public’s understanding and appreciation of astronomy. He has also been awarded the Carl Sagan Award for the Popularization of Science.
He is a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and has served as chair of the SETI Committee of the International Academy of Astronautics since 2003. He is a member of FameLab and was also the “Idea man” behind a plan to build large space and technology theme parks in The Netherlands and California. He was also a member of the California Air and Space Center board.
Read Limits on interstellar messages and Is that headline in need of a skeptic check? I am Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer at the SETI Institute and host of Big Picture Science, and I can help. AMA!
Watch Are Aliens Trying to Signal Us?, Communicating Across the Cosmos Workshop, What if ET is out there? TEDxSanJoseCA, 76th ALCON 2022, Looking for Aliens: Are they there? Are they here?. and Hello, Computer — Seth Shostak — A.I. and the search for aliens.
Read Will Powerful New Tools Finally Let Us Hear Alien Civilizations? and Alien signal likely discovered within our lifetimes – Dr Seth Shostak. Follow his Contributions at HuffPost.
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