Lisa Kaltenegger

Lisa Kaltenegger is a Professor of Astronomy at Cornell University and the Founding Director of the Carl Sagan Institute. An Austrian-born astrophysicist and astrobiologist, she specializes in the modeling and characterization of exoplanets and the search for signs of life beyond Earth. She is the author of Alien Earths: The Science for Planet Hunting in the Cosmos (2024) and received the 2025 Carl Sagan Medal from the American Astronomical Society for outstanding public communication of planetary science.

• Alien Earths: The New Science of Planet Hunting in the Cosmos (2024) Book
• How to Characterize Habitable Worlds and Signs of Life (2017) Paper
• Deciphering spectral fingerprints of habitable exoplanets (2010) Paper