Douglas Whittet

Doug Whittet was born in London and grew up in the United Kingdom. He became fascinated with astronomy at an early age and resolved to pursue a career in that field. He studied sciences at the University of St. Andrews, gaining a bachelors degree in Physics in 1970 and a doctoral degree in Astronomy in 1975. After some years as a lecturer at Preston Polytechnic, he emigrated to the USA in 1991 to take up a position as Professor of Physics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in upstate New York. In 2008 he was awarded funding from NASA to create the New York Center for Astrobiology, in which an interdisciplinary team of scientists are seeking to understand the processes that led to the origin of life on the Earth - and perhaps on other planets. His publications include two major text books: "Dust in the Galactic Environment" and "Origins of Life - A Cosmic Perspective".