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MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Contact: Jane Platt

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                           April 6, 1999

JPL SCIENTIST SINGS PRAISES OF ASTROBIOLOGY IN PUBLIC LECTURES

       What is life? How did it develop on Earth? Where else might we find
it? These challenging questions will be explored by astrobiologist Dr.
Pamela Conrad of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in a pair of free, public
lectures this month.

       Conrad, who describes astrobiology as "the coolest thing anyone can
do," will discuss "Astrobiology: Developing Methods for Detecting Life" on
Thursday, April 15, at JPL's von Karman Auditorium, and Friday, April 16, at
Pasadena City College's Forum. Both lectures begin at 7 p.m., with seating
on a first- come, first-served basis.

       Conrad sees JPL as the high note in her unique and varied career. She
earned a bachelor's degree in applied music and a master's degree in
composing from George Washington University, Washington, D.C. While earning
her living as an opera singer, film score composer, and even a TV producer
and director, Conrad yearned for her true love -- science. She returned to
school, earned a Ph.D. in geology, and did her research as a pre-doctoral
fellow at the Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory in Washington,
D.C. Her research involved high-pressure mineral physics, which she
describes as "squishing things and studying the results."

       When JPL offered her a job in its astrobiology unit, Conrad said "It
was music to my ears. I'm back to science, where I should have been in the
first place." She sings the praises of astrobiology, which attempts to
develop methods for detecting life and to define whether rocks are "animal,
vegetable or mineral."

       JPL is one of 11 NASA centers taking part in the agency's
Astrobiology Institute. Astrobiology blends the sciences of astronomy,
chemistry, biology and geology, which Conrad sees as "the perfect harmony."
Astrobiology techniques will be used to investigate samples returned from
Mars and other extraterrestrial locations, and numerous other future space
missions will benefit from astrobiological research, including NASA's
Origins Program, and explorations of Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's moon
Titan.

       JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology,
Pasadena, Calif.

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