Kevin Hand is an

astrobiologist Astrobiology, and the related field of exobiology, is an interdisciplinary scientific field that studies the origins, early evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe. Astrobiology is the multidisciplinary field that inves ...

and

planetary scientist Planetary science (or more rarely, planetology) is the scientific study of planets (including Earth), celestial bodies (such as moons, asteroids, comets) and planetary systems (in particular those of the Solar System) and the processes of their ...

at JPL. He is also the founder of Cosmos Education and was its president until 2007. He was working at

NASA Ames The Ames Research Center (ARC), also known as NASA Ames, is a major NASA research center at Moffett Federal Airfield in California's Silicon Valley. It was founded in 1939 as the second National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) laborat ...

when he was inspired to form Cosmos Education in 1999 after getting a grant from the Earth and Space Foundation to tour African schools to talk about how education relates to space research.

Education and career

Hand studied psychology and physics as an undergraduate at Dartmouth. He earned a master's degree at Stanford University in mechanical engineering while also working as a public policy research associate at Stanford's

Center for International Security and Cooperation Stanford University has many centers and institutes dedicated to the study of various specific topics. These centers and institutes may be within a department, within a school but across departments, an independent laboratory, institute or center ...

(CISAC). He chose the question of whether

Europa Europa may refer to: Places * Europe * Europa (Roman province), a province within the Diocese of Thrace * Europa (Seville Metro), Seville, Spain; a station on the Seville Metro * Europa City, Paris, France; a planned development * Europa Cliff ...

's putative ocean could harbor life as his Geological & Environmental Sciences PhD dissertation topic, under the direction of

Christopher Chyba Christopher F. Chyba is an American astrobiologist, and Professor of Astrophysical Sciences and International Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University. He graduated from Swarthmore College in 1982, and studied mathematical phys ...

, earning the doctorate in 2007. While a PhD student, he was chosen by James Cameron to take marine biology samples from hydrothermal vents in subsea expeditions to the

mid-Atlantic ridge The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a mid-ocean ridge (a divergent or constructive plate boundary) located along the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, and part of the longest mountain range in the world. In the North Atlantic, the ridge separates the North ...

and

East Pacific Rise The East Pacific Rise is a mid-ocean rise (termed an oceanic rise and not a mid-ocean ridge due to its higher rate of spreading that results in less elevation increase and more regular terrain), a divergent tectonic plate boundary located alon ...

. He was a featured scientist in Cameron's 2005 IMAX documentary, ''

Aliens of the Deep ''Aliens of the Deep'' is a 2005 American documentary film directed in part by James Cameron alongside fellow cameraman and friend Steven Quale, and filmed in the IMAX 3D format. It was produced by Walden Media and Walt Disney Pictures. Came ...

''. At a 2014 NASA panel discussion, Hand predicted that extraterrestrial life would be found within 20 years. Hand published the book '' Alien Oceans'' in 2020.

Selected publications

* * , a review of

Bibliography

* '' Alien Oceans'' (2020)

References

External links

* *
Video of Kevin Hand's April 2019 non-technical talk on "Ocean Worlds of the Outer Solar System" as part of the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hand, Kevin Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Planetary scientists Dartmouth College alumni Stanford University alumni Astrobiologists Jet Propulsion Laboratory faculty 20th-century American scientists 21st-century American scientists