Jason Wright is an astrophysicist and professor of astronomy at Penn State University, where he also directs the Penn State Center for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (PSETI). He is one of the most influential figures of the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Project, to which he has contributed with his research on exoplanets and technosignatures.
While the traditional SETI approach has focused primarily on listening for intentional radio signals, Wright has expanded the search to “technosignatures”: physical or observable traces of alien technology in the cosmos.
The search for technosignatures
His name gained international relevance when he raised, together with his collaborators, the possibility that the anomalous drops in brightness of the star KIC 8462852, popularly known as Tabby’s Star, had an explanation related to extraterrestrial megastructures. The proposal rekindled the global scientific community’s interest in SETI.
The proposal rekindled the global scientific community’s interest in SETI.
In addition to his research work, Wright has contributed to academic training in SETI. He also co-wrote The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence: Theory and Practiceconsidered the first modern academic textbook that brings together, under a rigorous methodology for astronomy students, search methods using radio, laser and infrared technosignatures.
Earth signs and scientific method
In their most recent projects, Wright’s team has studied how NASA’s Deep Space Network emits accidental signals into the cosmos. He proposes using these terrestrial patterns as a template to intercept communication networks that other civilizations could use to communicate with their own probes.
Wright also strongly defends the scientific method. Part of his current work involves demystifying pseudoscientific theories about recent interstellar objects and explaining how to accurately distinguish radio interference produced by human technology itself.
