About the Program

The NASA/Library of Congress Chair in Astrobiology, Exploration, and Scientific Innovation represents an opportunity for high-level scholarship to understand the interface between human society and the scientific exploration of the cosmos. In the spirit of Barry Blumberg, whose life and work spanned multiple disciplines, the Blumberg Program is interested in the concept of exploration broadly defined to include any aspect of space exploration within the parameters of NASA’s mission to “reveal the unknown for the benefit of humankind.” The program is most interested in proposals that consider the philosophical, humanistic, legal, ethical, and policy dimensions of exploration.

Possibilities for research subjects are many. The following are meant to inspire, not to limit creativity: legal issues related to governance of planets and space; the ethical implications of cross-contamination; scientific and philosophical definitions of life; conceptions of the origins of life in theistic and non-theistic religions; comparison of the discussion of these issues in multiple nations and cultures. The Chair may also consider life’s collective future—for humans and other forms of life, on Earth and beyond, examining the impacts on life and future evolutionary trajectories that may result from both natural events and human-directed activities.

Within the parameters of NASA’s mission, a chair might also seek to investigate how innovative quests for fundamental understanding may lead to major developments for the betterment of society. Barry Blumberg, for whom the Chair is named, conducted groundbreaking research addressing a simple but fundamental question: Why do some people get sick while others, exposed to the same environment, remain healthy? That this work unexpectedly led to the discovery of the hepatitis B virus, the development of a vaccine, and the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine illustrates the potential for unconventional thinking about fundamental questions to yield great rewards. Using methodologies from the history and sociology of science, the philosophy of science, legal, political, and cultural history, and other disciplines, a Chair might study and tell the story of how a basic research initiative led to completely unexpected discoveries and applications.

Additionally, the concept of “high risk, high reward research” continues to find traction among a number of US Government agencies and is at the heart of international competition in science. Focusing on projects within the parameters of NASA’s mission, the Chair could also study a “high risk, high reward” initiative from a historical, legal, philosophical, or ethical perspective or one that draws on several disciplinary modes of analysis.

The Chair is in residence at the Kluge Center, in the Library of Congress. The Library is at the heart of serious conversation among scholars and policymakers and the Kluge Center’s distinctive mission is to bridge the gap between scholarship and the policymaking community. As such, the Blumberg Chair holds a highly visible, public role. The Library is particularly interested in scholars who are able and willing to speak beyond their disciplinary home in a way that is accessible and compelling to a broad audience.

The Chair is open to established scholars and leading thinkers in the fields of philosophy, history, religion, astrobiology, astronomy, planetary science, the history of science, paleontology, Earth and atmospheric sciences, geological sciences, ethics, literature, media studies, or other related fields. Check out the current Chairs' podcast "Space on the Page."

Current Chair

Dagomar Degroot

Dagomar Degroot is an associate professor of environmental history at Georgetown University. His work bridges the humanities and sciences to reveal how communities have responded to abrupt changes in environments on Earth and across the solar system. By exploring how environmental forces have shaped the past, he aims to offer fresh perspectives on the challenges of the future.
Climate change has been a central theme in Degroot’s scholarship. His first book, "The Frigid Golden Age: Climate Change, the Little Ice Age, and the Dutch Republic, 1560-1720" (Cambridge University Press, 2018), explores how the Dutch Republic was largely resilient in the face of the Little Ice Age, a globally modest but regionally significant cooling that predated today’s global warming. Degroot is currently editing a series of interdisciplinary volumes on climate change while publishing in major scientific and historical journals, on topics that span 300,000 years of human history.
A second area of focus for Degroot is the environmental history of outer space. His new book, "Ripples on the Cosmic Ocean" (Harvard University Press, Forthcoming), argues that real and perceived changes in outer space environments shaped human history in previously untold ways. He is currently co-authoring a book, tentatively entitled "Cosmic Contamination," that examines why both the Soviet and American space programs failed to manage the potentially existential risk of microbial cross-contamination in the early Space Age.
While working on these and other projects, Degroot gives lectures to audiences around the world, and his writing has appeared in, for example, Aeon, The Conversation, and the Washington Post. He has been interviewed by Axios, CNN, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, Popular Science, Space.com, and the Washington Post, among many other outlets.

View past chairs

The Setting

Uniquely situated for research, analysis, and serious discussion of America’s and the world’s relationship to the earth and the moral and philosophical questions of life in the universe, the Library of Congress offers facilities for scholars, universal collections spanning more than 470 languages, broad language and subject expertise of the Library staff, the central position of the Library on Capitol Hill, and the inspiring atmosphere of the magnificent Thomas Jefferson Building.

Funding

The Baruch S. Blumberg NASA/Library of Congress Chair in Astrobiology, Exploration, and Scientific Innovation is made possible through a unique interagency agreement between the NASA Astrobiology Program and the Library of Congress. Established in 2011, the collaboration by NASA and the Library of Congress owes a great deal to the vision of the late Dr. Baruch S. Blumberg, Nobel Prize winner and founding member of the Library’s Scholars Council. Dr. Blumberg served as the founding director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute in 1999. The funding for the position is provided by NASA, and execution of the agreement is by the Kluge Center in consultation with the NASA Astrobiology Institute.