Thomas Zurbuchen

Thomas H. Zurbuchen, known in the space community as Dr. Z, is a Swiss-American astrophysicist, leader, and innovator.

He was the longest continually serving Head of Science at NASA from October 2016 through 2022, the leading program worldwide for doing science in and from space. During this time, he drove all aspects of leadership in space science, launching 37 missions and starting another 54. His achievements include bringing the international James Webb Telescope to launch, overseeing two Mars landings - the Perseverance rover and the first controlled flight away from the Earth with the Ingenuity helicopter - and developing the Parker Solar Probe, a mission to touch the Sun. He also conceived and led the Earth System Observatory, an advanced multi-platform observatory that creates a 3D holistic view of the Earth, from bedrock to atmosphere, and oversaw humanity’s first successful attempt at moving a celestial object, using a spacecraft impact.