Astrobiologist of the Month
Every month we feature two astrobiologists from around the world. Our aim is for everyone to get to know each other, connect and network. If you would like to be featured, let us know here.
September
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✉️ christiane [dot] helling [at] oeaw [dot] ac [dot] at
🌍 Graz, Austria
Opportunities
Undergraduate students
Masters students
PhD students
CHRISTAINE HELLING
“I am a physicists by training with a keen interest to bridge into adjacent fields which led me to astrophysics. The field of exoplanet research enabled and required cross-disciplinary thinking which led me to work on building virtual labs for cloud forming atmospheres. Clouds are such a key regulator of climate and water distribution on Earth, what would be the chemo-physical equivalent on other planets? The study of high-energy radiation on the formation of complex carbohydrates, the effect of lightning for nitrogen fixation on the early Earth and the atmospheric chemistry for the large diversity of chemically different extrasolar planets do linke my work to astrobiology. I am the founding director of the St Andrews Center for Exoplanet Science (founded 2006) which aims to include humanities like philosophy, modern languages as well as international relations into our scientific thinking about exoplanets.”
Position
Director of the Space Research Institute of the Austrian Academy of Science, Professor for Space Science at the Graz University of Technology (Austria), Honorary Professor of Physics & Astronomy at the University of St Andrews (UK)
Career Pathway
1999, PhD dissertation (Dr. rer. nat., with distinction), Fakultät II TU Berlin
1996, Diploma in Physics, TU Berlin, diploma thesis in astrophysics
1990-1996, Studies of Physics, TU Berlin and FU Berlin, incl. diploma thesis at NBI Copenhagen
Research Topics
Exoplanet Atmospheres; Cloud Formation in Chemically Diverse Atmospheres; High-energy Radiation Impact on Atmosphere Chemistry; Exoplanet Lightning; Charge Process in Exoplanet Environments; 3D Climate and Weather on Exoplanets Orbiting different Host Stars
Why did you decide to become an Astrobiologist?
I am interested in cross-disciplinary research.
If your lab/research group had a nickname, what would it be?
LEAP
Are you accepting students?
Undergraduate, Masters and PhD students