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  1. New Library of Congress Astrobiology Chair

    NAI is very pleased to announce that Steven J. Dick has been selected as the second Baruch S. Blumberg NASA/Library of Congress Chair in Astrobiology in the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress. The Chair position is a partnership between the NASA Astrobiology Program and the Kluge Center.

    Dick recently was the Charles A. Lindbergh Chair in Aerospace History at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum. He is an astronomer, author and historian who served as the chief historian for NASA from 2003 to 2009. Earlier, he was an astronomer and historian of science at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C.

    “Steven Dick will deploy his long experience in the field to help define the key humanistic issues raised by astrobiology and to begin anticipating the human consequences, intended and unintended, of the search for life beyond Earth,” said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington.

    “The question of life elsewhere in the cosmos has captured the imagination of humankind throughout history,” said Ed Goolish, acting director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute. “As the Blumberg NASA/Library of Congress Chair in Astrobiology, Steven Dick will conduct a compelling investigation of the societal impact of the discovery of life elsewhere in the universe—bringing to this program his reputation as the premier historian and scholar on this question.”

    Dick will be at the Kluge Center for one year, starting in November 2013. He will examine the historical impact of astrobiology. He will work both individually and with other scholars to determine systematically the critical issues and optimal approaches to studying the societal impact of the discovery of microbial or intelligent extraterrestrial life. His research will include studies in the Library’s extensive print and manuscript collections, and he aims to publish his findings for wider consumption at the end of his stay.

    Source: [Library of Congress]