Julian Chela-Flores

Julian Chela-Flores (born 13 June 1942) is a Venezuelan astrobiologist and physicist. He is known for his contributions to the field of planetary habitability.
Biography
His father, Raimundo Chela a mathematician of Lebanese family, encouraged his studies in science, while his mother raised his interest in the humanities. He lived in England where he studied in the University of London, obtaining a PhD in Quantum Mechanics in 1969. His field of research is astrobiology, in other words the science of the origin, evolution, distribution and destiny of life in the universe, especially life on Europa, the Jovian satellite.
From 1971 till 1990 he worked in academic matters continually, especially in research at the Centre of Physics, the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research (Full Researcher 1978) and at the Physics Department, Simon Bolivar University (Full Professor 1980), both in Caracas. He is Full Professor ad honorem at the Institute for Advanced Studies (IDEA, Caracas) having been a co-founder of IDEA in 1980. Since 1994 he is an Associate Member of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.
His first contact with the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste (ICTP, now bearing the name of its Founding Director the Nobel Laureate, Abdus Salam) took place during the inauguration of its Miramare Campus and at the Contemporary Physics Trieste Symposium (June, 1968).
These two events were stepping stones for perennial collaboration with the progress of research and development, especially in the emerging nations: IAEA Fellow 1971, and on several occasions Associate Member (1972-1981) and Visiting Scientist (1982-1990). From 1990 to 2014 he was scientist in residence at the ICTP: Scientific Consultant (1990-1996) and Staff Associate (1996-2014). He now continues his research as visiting scientist at the ICTP.
Bibliography
Ponnamperuma, C. and Chela-Flores, J. (eds.). (1993). Chemical Evolution: Origin of Life A. Deepak Publishing, Vol. 135, Hampton, Virginia, USA. (340 pp.). .
Chela-Flores, J., M. Chadha, A. Negron-Mendoza, and T. Oshima (eds.). (1995). Chemical Evolution: Self-Organization of the Macromolecules of Life (A Cyril Ponnamperuma Festschrift.) A. Deepak Publishing, Vol. 139, Hampton, Virginia, USA. (337 pp.). .
Ponnamperuma, C. and Chela-Flores, J. (eds.). (1995). Chemical Evolution: The Structure and Model of the First Cell. Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht, The Netherlands. (383 pp.). .
Chela-Flores, J. and Raulin, F. (eds.). (1996). Chemical Evolution: Physics of the Origin and Evolution of Life (The Cyril Ponnamperuma Memorial Conference). Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht, The Netherlands. (413 pp.). .
Chela-Flores, J. and Raulin, F. (eds.). (1998). Exobiology: Matter, Energy, and Information in the Origin and Evolution of Life in the Universe. Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht, The Netherlands. (386 pp.). .
Chela-Flores, J., Lemarchand, G.A. and Oro, J. (eds.). (2000). Astrobiology: Origins from the Big Bang to Civilisation. Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht, The Netherlands. (336 pp.). .
Chela-Flores, J. (2001). The New Science of Astrobiology From Genesis of the Living Cell to Evolution of Intelligent Behavior in the Universe. Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht, The Netherlands. (279 pp.). .
Chela-Flores, J, Owen, T. and Raulin, F. (eds.). (2001). The First Steps of Life in the Universe. Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht, The Netherlands. (428 pp.). .
Seckbach, J., Chela-Flores, J., Owen, T., Raulin, F. (eds.) (2004). Life in the Universe From the Miller Experiment to the Search for Life on Other Worlds Series: Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology, Vol. 7, Springer: Dordrecht, The Netherlands. (387 pp.). . (e-book) .
Chela-Flores, J. (2004). The New Science of Astrobiology From Genesis of the Living Cell to Evolution of Intelligent Behavior in the Universe. Series: Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology, Band 3 Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht, The Netherlands. (251 pp.). Softcover edition of the 2001 book. .
Chela-Flores, J. (2009). A second Genesis: Stepping-stones towards the intelligibility of nature. World Scientific Publishers, Singapore. (248 pp.). . .
Chela-Flores, J. (2011). The Science of Astrobiology A Personal Point of View on Learning to Read the Book of Life (Second Edition). Book series: Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology, Springer: Dordrecht, The Netherlands. (334 pp.). . . .
Videography
In iTunes U (http://itunes.ictp.tv/)
3,8 billion years ago. (Also in Spanish and Italian.)
Search for our origins in stardust. (Also in Spanish and Italian.)
In the ICTP PIO - YouTube
. (8 minutes).
. (8 minutes).
References
External links
Official website: http://www.ictp.it/~chelaf
Publications: http://www.ictp.it/~chelaf/Publications.pdf
Science communication: http://www.ictp.it/~chelaf/Science_comm.pdf
1942 births
Living people
People from Caracas
Academic staff of Simón Bolívar University (Venezuela)
Alumni of the University of London
Venezuelan physicists
Astrobiologists
Academics of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies