Sara Seager Essay

Sara Seager is considered a pioneer in the research of exoplanets, a relatively new field of study which largely began in the 1990s. Seager, an astrophysicist and planetary scientist, has been called an “astronomical Indiana Jones” and was named Time Magazine’s 25 Most Influential in Space in 2012. She is currently a professor of planetary science and physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She received her B.Sc. degree in mathematics and physics for the University of Toronto in 1994, and a Ph.D. in Astronomy from Harvard University in 1999. It was during her graduate studies that the research field of exoplanets began expanding and Seager began researching the atmospheres of exoplanets under her Ph.D. mentor. Since then. She has received a number of prestigious awards and her research has expanded significantly since then NASA (Sara Seager Biography). Even as a child Sara Seager knew she was interested in astrophysics; although she may not have known the specific term at the time. Her personal biography mentioned an early memory where she attended a “star party” and look at the sky through a telescope, presumably for the first time. She then attended a high school which focused in the sciences, where she gained a further interest in astrophysics; although, her parents encouraged her to …show more content…
This related to work in the characterization of exoplanets. She is also involved in related space missions and NASA (Sara Seager Biography). In a search for her most recent papers, Sara Seager’s most current recent research revolves around the search for habitable planets. This seems to stem from Seager’s goal which she announced on her fortieth birthday. With the discovery of another Earth inevitably growing closer and closer, Seager wants to ensure the discovery this planet within her lifetime (Seager