"I am not looking for life. I am looking for the chemical signature of a planet coordinating with its biosphere. When life exists on a planet, it changes the atmosphere. Oxygen, methane, ozone — these are coordination products. The planet and its life have been in dialogue for billions of years. I am reading the transcript."
Astrophysicist who pioneered the study of exoplanet atmospheres, developing the theoretical framework for detecting biosignatures — chemical signatures in planetary atmospheres that can only be sustained by living systems. Her Seager equation extends the Drake equation by accounting for the atmospheric detectability of life. She led key aspects of the TESS mission, which has identified thousands of exoplanet candidates for atmospheric follow-up.