movie contact had come out. i had never heard of jill before, didn t know there was a connection between that movie and her. the jodie foster character is modelled on her. yeah, jill is one of my longest mentors. when we started, the study was considered pretty fringy. we didn t know if there were planets beyond our solar system. and we spent a lot of time building up credibility, making a distinction between ourselves and the folks who report seeing little green men in spaceships and being abducted. i mean, people would be writing books about the study pioneers, and it would be what s a nice girl like you doing in a place like this sort of questions. it was really hard. do you think there is life is out there? you know, nathaniel, whatever i think about life beyond earth doesn t matter a bit.