Jill Tarter

Born on this day in 1944, Jill Tarter is an astronomer best known for her work in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). Since 1997, she has served as the Bernard M. Oliver Chair for SETI research at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California. Among her many contributions to the field was her stint as director of Project Phoenix, which from 1995 to 2004 looked for extraterrestrial intelligence in some 750 nearby star systems by using telescopes around the world to analyze patterns in radio signals. Tarter served as the inspiration for the character of astronomer Ellie Arroway in Contact, the Carl Sagan novel that was adapted into a movie in 1997. Tarter has said that even as a child, she wondered about the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe and read a lot of science fiction, including the works of Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, and Robert Heinlein. The recipient of many major awards, Tarter was honored in 2009 with the TED Prize, which consisted of $100 000 to aid in her search for “cosmic company.” (Photo credit: Seth Shostak/SETI Institute)

Date in History: 16 January 1944