Dirk Schulze-Makuch
Dirk Schulze-Makuch (born 1964) is a professor at the Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Technical University Berlin, Germany and Adjunct Professor at the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences Washington State University, Pullman, WA. He is best known for his publications on extraterrestrial life, being coauthor of five books on the topic: "The Cosmic Zoo: Complex Life on Many Worlds" (2017), "A One Way Mission to Mars: Colonizing the Red Planet" (2011), "We Are Not Alone: Why We Have Already Found Extraterrestrial Life" (2010), "Cosmic Biology: How Life could Evolve on Other Worlds" (2010 ), and "Life in the Universe: Expectations and Constraints" (2004, 2008, 2018). In 2012 he published with David Darling "Megacatastrophes! Nine Strange Ways the World Could End". In 2013 he published the second edition of his science fiction novel "Alien Encounter". Together with Paul Davies he proposed in 2010 exploration of Mars by a one-way trip to the planet. Education and career. His upbringing was in Giessen, Germany, where he received his Diplom-Degree (M.S.) in Geology from Justus Liebig University in 1991. In 1996 he obtained his Ph.D. in Geosciences from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. After having worked  as Senior Project Hydrogeologist at Envirogen, a Princeton-based research and consulting firm, for which he investigated subsurface hydrocarbon spills, he became in 1997 Adjunct Professor at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. In 1998 he joined the University of Texas at El Paso as assistant professor, investigating microbe and chemical transport in groundwater, and microbial interaction in a planetary environment. From there he joined Washington State University in 2004: first as Associate Professor, since 2010 as Professor at the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, with focus on astrobiology and planetary habitability. Since 2013 he is a Professor at  the Technical University Berlin (Germany) and led as Principal Investigator the European Union – funded ERC Advanced Grant project on the “Habitability of Martian Environments” from 2013 to 2019. In 2019 he has been awarded an ERC Proof of Concept Grant. Scientific research. Schulze-Makuch's research interests and publications range from life beyond Earth, including planetary protection, hydrobiology, archeology, to cancer. To the viewer he may be best known for his work in astrobiology in particular the possible existence of life on Venus, Mars, Titan, Europa, and Io With Ian Crawford he proposed that microbial life may have existed temporarily  on Earth´s Moon, at a time of major volcanic outgassing about 3.5 billion years ago. His book "Life in the Universe" (with L. N. Irwin) and his studies consider alternative physiologies for extraterrestrial life. Patents. Removal of Biological Pathogens Using Surfactant Modified Zeolite. Patent No. US 7,311,839 B2. Date of patent: dec. 25, 2007. Awards. Friedrich-Wilhelm Bessel Award (2010) by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Media activity. The work of Schulze-Makuch has received much attention. It has been the subject of TV programs on the BBC, the National Geographic and the Discovery Channel, and of numerous articles in  magazines such as "New Scientist", "The Guardian" and "Der Spiegel". Blog: Air&Space Magazine: Life beyond Earth