James F. Kasting

James Fraser Kasting (born January 2, 1953) is an American geoscientist and Distinguished Professor of Geosciences at Penn State University. Kasting is active in NASA's search for habitable extrasolar planets. He is considered a world leader in the field of planetary habitability, assessing habitable zones around stars. He was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2018. Kasting also serves on the Advisory Council of METI (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence).

Education Kasting grew up in Huntsville, Alabama, and credits the nearby Marshall Space Flight Center and the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo rockets for inspiring his interests in space and science.

Research Kasting worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and at NASA Ames Research Center before accepting a position with the space science division at NASA Ames. He has served NASA in various capacities, including co-chairing the scientific working group for the Terrestrial Planet Finder. Kasting joined Penn State University in 1988, but continues to collaborate with NASA.

He is interested in atmospheric evolution, planetary atmospheres and paleoclimates. He has also considered the habitability criteria of other stellar systems and planets. A 1993 paper on habitable zones was particularly decisive in shaping thinking on this field.

Kasting has published two books, The Earth System, and How to Find a Habitable Planet, along with more than 140 publications in research journals.

Kasting is also a member of numerous professional scientific societies and committees. He was elected Fellow of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and Geochemical Society in 2008. He is also a fellow of the American Geophysical Union (2004), International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life (2002), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1995). He serves on the advisory board of the Lifeboat Foundation.

“Even if we search the cosmos and come up with a negative result, if we see a bunch of Earth-like planets and none of them have life, we’ll know we hold a very special place in the universe,” Kasting said. “But I was a fan of Carl Sagan growing up, and Sagan was much more optimistic than that. And I’m more optimistic also.”

Awards He won a LExEN Award for his work "Collaborative Research: Methanogenesis and the Climate of Early Mars". He won the Oparin Medal, presented by the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life, in 2008. Stanley Miller Medal (2016)

Personal life He is married with three children.