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I am the Frank B. Baird, Jr., Professor of Science at Harvard University. I received a PhD in Physics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel at age 24, while leading the first international project supported by the Strategic Defense Initiative (1983-1988). Subsequently I was a long-term member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton (1988-1993). Throughout my career, I have written 8 books, including most recently, Extraterrestrial (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2021), and about 800 papers (with an h-index of 112) on a wide range of topics, including black holes, the first stars, the search for extraterrestrial life and the future of the Universe. I had been the longest serving Chair of Harvard's Department of Astronomy (2011- 2020), Founding Director of Harvard's Black Hole Initiative (2016-present) and Director of the Institute for Theory and Computation (2007-present) within the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. I also chair the Board on Physics and Astronomy of the National Academies (2018-present) which oversees all Decadal Surveys in Physics and Astronomy. I am an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the American Physical Society, and the International Academy of Astronautics. In addition, I am a member of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) at the White House and a member of the Advisory Board for "Einstein: Visualize the Impossible" of the Hebrew University. I also chairs the Advisory Committee for the Breakthrough Starshot Initiative (2016-present) and serve as the Science Theory Director for all Initiatives of the Breakthrough Prize Foundation. In 2012, TIME magazine [pdf] selected me as one of the 25 most influential people in space and in 2020 I was selected among the 14 most inspiring Israelis of the last decade. Click here for my commentaries on innovation and diversity.

I will be on at 11a.m. EST (16 UT), AMA!

Username: /u/Avi-Loeb