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SMP LeaderTalks

#80 | Between science and fiction

SMP LeaderTalks

12. February 2025

Georgiy Michailov meets Prof. Dr. Lisa Kaltenegger

About cosmic detective work, extraterrestrial life and UFOs.

1 h 03 Min

"The surprise would be greater if we really were alone."

How many people do you know who have an asteroid named after them? If your answer so far has been 'zero', then today is your lucky day. Because in this SMP LeaderTalk, Prof. Dr. Lisa Kaltenegger is our guest: namesake of the asteroid “7734 Kaltenegger”, as well as astrophysicist and world-leading expert on exoplanets. She searches for traces of extraterrestrial life on other planets and ventures a look into the infinite vastness of the universe.

"Every fifth star has a planet that could be like ours."

And the chances of finding extraterrestrial life are not bad. After all, there are theoretically planets that are not dissimilar to our Earth. And with technical possibilities such as the James Webb telescope, we could be on the cusp of discoveries such as extraterrestrial life.

"Are we even interesting enough for someone to want to get in touch with us?"

In this episode of SMP LeaderTalks, Prof. Dr. Lisa Kaltenegger talks to Georgiy Michailov about mysterious phenomena in the sky and what they are all about, to what extent artificial intelligence can help in the search for extraterrestrial life, whether aliens, if they existed, would be interested in us at all. And she reveals how to work with the largest space telescope.

*Video only in German

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