Jonathan Lunine

Jonathan I. Lunine (born June 26, 1959) is an American planetary scientist and physicist. Lunine is the Chief Scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA and Professor of Planetary Science at Caltech.^[1] Previously he was the David C. Duncan Professor in the Physical Sciences and chair of the Department of Astronomy at Cornell University. Having published more than 400 research papers, Lunine is at the forefront of research into planet formation, evolution, and habitability. His work includes analysis of brown dwarfs, gas giants, and planetary satellites. Within the Solar System, bodies with potential organic chemistry and prebiotic conditions, particularly Saturn's moon Titan, have been the focus of Lunine's research.^[2]

Lunine was an interdisciplinary scientist on the Cassini mission to Saturn, and on the James Webb Space Telescope, as well as co-investigator on the Juno mission launched in 2011 to Jupiter. He is a co-investigator on the MISE instrument and member of the gravity science team on Europa Clipper. He is also a member of the 3GM gravity experiment on ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer. He was the principal investigator of a proposed astrobiology mission to Enceladus called Enceladus Life Finder.^[3]

Lunine is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences,^[4] a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Geophysical Union, and a member of the International Academy of Astronautics, which gave him its Basic Science Award in 2009. In 2015 he was awarded the Jean Dominique Cassini medal of the European Geosciences Union. He earned a B.S. in physics and astronomy from the University of Rochester in 1980, followed by M.S. (1983) and Ph.D. (1985) degrees in Planetary Science from the California Institute of Technology.^[5]

Lunine was raised Jewish, but is a convert to Catholicism who helped found the Society of Catholic Scientists.^[6] He delivers lectures on Georges Lemaître,^[7] and other topics concerning the relationship of science and faith.