Part 2 of the TED Radio Hour episode Curious stories of coexistence
Astrophysicist Avi Loeb is on a mission to prove aliens exist. His peers say he's chasing sensationalism. He reflects on his status as an academic pariah and whether controversial ideas can coexist.
About Avi Loeb
As head of Harvard's Galileo Project and founding director of the Black Hole Initiative, Avi Loeb searches for extraterrestrial intelligent life. He is the author of nine books, including the bestselling Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth, as well as more than a thousand scientific papers on topics such as black holes, the first stars and the future of the universe.
Loeb also directs the Institute for Theory and Computation at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a former member of the US President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, a former chair of the board on physics and astronomy of the National Academies and was the longest-serving chair of the Harvard Astronomy Department.
His most recent book is Interstellar: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life and Our Future in the Stars.
This segment of the TED Radio Hour was produced by Katie Monteleone and edited by Sanaz Meshkinpour. You can follow us on Facebook @TEDRadioHour and email us at TEDRadioHour@npr.org.
Web Resources
Related TED Bio: Avi Loeb
Related TED Talk: The fingerprints of life beyond Earth
Related TED Talk: The search for microscopic aliens
Related NPR Links
All Things Considered: An astronomer thinks alien tech could be on the ocean floor. Not everyone agrees
Fresh Air: UFOs: Conspiracy Theories, Secrets & Mysteries
Fresh Air: How the Roswell 'UFO' spurred our modern age of conspiracy theories
Copyright 2025 NPR
