Abstract
In a survey released by the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine in November 2021, the search for Earth-like planets outside our solar system was identified as a major goal for astronomy over the next 10 years. National Science Review invites Douglas N.C. Lin (), emeritus professor of astrophysics from the University of California, Santa Cruz, who has studied planet formation, evolution and solar system dynamics for almost five decades, to look back on exoplanet research, a field that has expanded exponentially in the past 30 years, and to envision the opportunities and challenges in our search for habitable worlds. As the founding director of the Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics at Peking University, Lin offers his insights on how China's astronomical community can benefit more from collaboration, and what young scientists could do to seize the opportunities offered by what he calls 'a golden era of exoplanet research'.