Dr. Jonathan Lunine is Chief Scientist of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Professor of Planetary Science at the California Institute of Technology. He came to Pasadena in 2024 after 13 years as the David C. Duncan Professor in the Physical Sciences, including five years as chair of the Department of Astronomy, at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Prior to that, he was on the faculty in Planetary Science and Theoretical Astrophysics at the University of Arizona, Tucson for 25 years, and Visiting Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, in Italy, from 2010-2011.

Lunine has performed pioneering research on the formation and evolution of planetary systems, the nature of planetary interiors and atmospheres, and where environments suited for life might exist in the solar system and beyond. He pursues this research through theoretical modeling and participation in spacecraft missions. He was an interdisciplinary scientist on the Cassini/Huygens mission to Saturn and on the James Webb Space Telescope, both joint missions between NASA, the European Space Agency ESA, and other space agencies. Presently he is a co-investigator on NASA’s Juno mission at Jupiter and the Europa Clipper mission headed to Jupiter’s moon Europa, and a team member on the 3GM gravity experiment on ESA’s JUICE mission on its way to Jupiter’s moon Ganymede.

Lunine is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and has chaired or co-chaired numerous advisory and strategic planning committees for the Academy and for NASA, including the Giant Planet Systems panel for the Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023, and "Pathways to Exploration: Rationales and Approaches for a U.S. Program of Human Space Exploration."

Lunine received a B.S. in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Rochester and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the California Institute of Technology.