Scott Hubbard's interests in space exploration were triggered by Sputnik's launch in 1957, a predilection for Isaac Asimov's science fiction, and some backyard rocket experiments that went awry. Seeing this stream of manmade objects flying through the sky set off Hubbard's imagination and his career. (See CV)

With a degree in physics–astronomy from Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, he found a job at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) that let him pursue graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

While at LBNL, Hubbard invented a novel radiation-detection technology that ultimately found application in space missions. It was also the basis for a small company Hubbard founded with his colleagues in 1980. Becoming a general manager of the start-up taught him not only management and leadership skills, which he would hone throughout his career, but also the art of doing science. “Making the judgement between when to be exquisitely careful and knowing when quick and dirty is good enough is the hallmark of good research,” he says.

After selling the business, he eventually landed at NASA, where he became manager of the successful Lunar Prospector mission. It was Hubbard who answered the call for a simpler, cheaper way to get to the surface of Mars. His solution was to use airbags to cushion the landing of a probe, now a standard procedure in space-exploration missions. Hubbard also helped create NASA's new interdisciplinary Astrobiology Institute devoted to studying life in the Universe. “I always wanted to explore space — at least with my imagination,” he says.

Although he cites imagination as his most valuable skill, his leadership abilities have consistently been in demand. Hubbard faced his two most challenging roles while at NASA: rebuilding the Mars programme after two failed missions, and then serving as the NASA representative on the Columbia Accident Investigation Board after the shuttle disaster in 2003. The Mars programme he put together for the Odyssey, Spirit and Opportunity missions is still in place today, and he directed the experimental analyses that determined why Columbia was lost.

Hubbard returns to research in his dream job at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute. His goals are to strengthen SETI's research capabilities and to carry on Carl Sagan's legacy of communicating to the public why space exploration is so exciting.