Gerald Soffen

Who was Gerald Soffen?

Dr. Gerald A. Soffen, known as Jerry or Gerry, was a NASA scientists and educator who served in a wide variety of roles for the space agency, primarily dealing with either education or with life sciences—especially the search for life on Mars.

He earned his A.B.S. from the University of California, Los Angeles, his M.S. from University of Southern California, and his Ph.D. in Biology from Princeton University.

Working from NASA's Langley Research Center in the mid- to late-1970s, Dr. Soffen was Project Scientist for the NASA's Viking program of Mars landers, the first successful missions to perform unmanned experiments on the surface of the planet. In that role, he oversaw all scientific investigations conducted by the landers, coordinating the work of more than seventy scientists around the nation. Later, he would become NASA Langley's Chief Environmental Scientist, leading work on remote sensing by satellite as well as laboratory experiments, ground-based measurements, and theoretical models.

After concluding his work with Viking, Soffen became the Director of Life Sciences at NASA Headquarters in 1978. In this position, Dr. Soffen was responsible for the agency-wide program to monitor and maintain the physical well being of NASA astronauts in space, as well as the Biomedical Program, the Space Biology Program, and the Exobiology program.