Chris German
Senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; specialist in seafloor hydrothermal systems and ocean-world biosignature interpretation. Principal Investigator of NASA’s Investigating Ocean Worlds (InvOW) project (2026–2031, ~$5M, 16-lab consortium); previously led the predecessor NASA-funded Exploring Ocean Worlds initiative.
In the InvOW announcement German frames the program as a “needle-in-a-haystack” signal-to-noise problem: on distant ocean worlds, non-biological organics may dominate, inverting Earth’s situation, and InvOW must prepare interpretive groundwork before europa-clipper’s 2030 Europa arrival.
“If you are alive today, this is the first generation where the question of whether there is life elsewhere in the universe could be answered in your lifetime.” — Chris German (src-whoi-invow-ocean-worlds-2026-05)