Douglas Whittet
Emeritus Professor of Physics
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy, New York 12180, USA
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Education:
Ph.D., Astronomy, University of St Andrews (1975)
B.Sc., Physics, University of St Andrews (1970)
Research and Teaching:
- Astrobiology: The origins and future prospects of life in the universe; environments and processes that led to life on Earth; the evolution and sustainability of life on Earth; the search for extraterrestrial life.
- Astrochemistry: The origin and distribution of organic molecules and water in interstellar clouds and protoplanetary disks around newborn stars; the relationship between interstellar matter and planet-building material in our own and other solar systems.
- Astrophysics: The optical properties of interstellar dust grains; applications of observational data to studies of grain alignment, grain growth, and the structure of galactic magnetic fields.
- Culture: The history of astronomy and music in the Nordic countries, especially Finland.
