University of Chicago
Member of the SETI Institute Science Advisory Board
Jordan Bimm is Assistant Instructional Professor of Science Communication and Public Discourse at the University of Chicago. Originally from Toronto, Canada, he is a historian of science focused on U.S. space exploration who specializes in space medicine and astrobiology. His research investigates big questions like Who should go to space? and What happens if we discover extraterrestrial life?
His work has been published in academic journals including Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences (HSNS) and Social Studies of Science (SSS) and popularized in The New York Times, Scientific American, and The Atlantic. His forthcoming book, Anticipating the Astronaut, examines the surprising history of pre-NASA space medicine test-subjects contributing to early visions of an ideal spacefaring body. His current project, Putting Mars in a Jar, recovers the forgotten history of the U.S. Air Force’s early astrobiology research in the 1950s, which included the first life-on-Mars laboratory simulations.
His research has won the Sacknoff Prize for Space History, the Adams Center Prize for Cold War History, the History of Science Society’s NASA Fellowship, a Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Fellowship at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, and the David Edge Prize for Social Studies of Science. In 2023 he was selected as a NASA Astrobiology Program and American Philosophical Society Lewis and Clark Fund Field Scholar.
At the University of Chicago, he teaches courses on science communication as well as the history of science and space exploration. He also directs a space science communication research unit called Capsule Communicator which focuses on issues surrounding detections of biosignatures and technosignatures.
He recently served as co-lead organizer for the NASA Astrobiology Program-supported workshop Communicating Discoveries in the Search for Life in the Universe (CDSLU).
Profile Image Credit: Paul Sokoloff.