Margaret Turnbull

Dr. Margaret (Maggie) Turnbull is an Astrobiologist and a Principle Investigator for NASA's WFIRST mission to find and study planets around the nearest stars. She got her start with SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, when she designed a search list of stars that appear to be capable of supporting life as we know it. After that, she moved into the realm of exoplanets, designing missions that would be capable of discovering worlds like our own. She is one of very few independent astrobiologists in the world, opting to fund her work through grants rather than by through employment at a NASA center or university. Maggie makes her home in Wisconsin, where she keeps bees, raises monarch butterflies, taps maple trees, and enjoys skiing all winter long.