Shabbat Dinner with
Professor Sara Seager
Join us for Shabbat Dinner on Friday, March 17th at 7:30 with
special guest, Prof. Sara Seager.
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Professor Sara Seager is an astrophysicist and a Professor of Physics, Professor of Planetary Science, and a Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she holds the Class of 1941 Professor Chair. She has been a pioneer in the vast and unknown world of exoplanets, planets that orbit stars other than the sun. Her ground-breaking research ranges from the detection of exoplanet atmospheres to innovative theories about life on other worlds to development of novel space mission concepts.
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In space missions for planetary discovery and exploration, she was the Deputy Science Director of the MIT-led NASA Explorer-class mission TESS; she was PI of the JPL-MIT CubeSat ASTERIA; is a lead of the Starshade Rendezvous Mission (a space-based direct imaging exoplanet discovery concept under technology development) to find a true Earth analog orbiting a Sun-like star; and most recently leads a team working to find out whether or not the Venus atmosphere can support life.
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Her research earned her a MacArthur “genius” grant and in addition Professor Seager is an Officer of the Order of Canada, a member of US National Academy of Sciences, a recipient of the Magellanic Premium Medal, and has Asteroid 9729 named in her honor.​
Shabbat Dinner is open to MIT affiliates by RSVP.