Jill Tarter of the SETI Institute (SETI once stood for “Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence”) has been named by TIME Magazine as one of the 100 most influential and powerful people of our time. Jill gave a wonderful opening talk at last year’s International Space Development Conference (the National Space Society’s annual meeting – this year is May 27-31 in Oklahoma City). They’ve accomplished a lot with little or no government funding, and she sees great prospects in some of the new projects they’re working on, in particular the new Allen Telescope Array.
Psychologist Steven Pinker is also among the 2004 “TIME 100”; other “scientists and thinkers” include physicist/mathematician Ed Witten, programmer Linus Torvalds, justice Sandra Day O’Connor, and jdoe’s hero, economist Bjorn Lomborg. A SETI Institute release talks a bit more about why Dr. Tarter deserves this recognition.