Life in the Universe: Inaugural Lecture by Prof. Charles Cockell

General interest seminar

Life in the Universe: Inaugural Lecture by Prof. Charles Cockell

  • Event time: 5:15pm
  • Event date: 26th January 2012
  • Speaker: (School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Edinburgh)
  • Location: Swann Lecture Theatre, Michael Swann Building

Event details

The event will be Chaired by Professor Lesley Yellowlees.

This lecture will also be open to students. Tea and doughnuts will be available to students outside the lecture theatres in JCMB at 4.30pm.

About the speaker

Professor Cockell is a geomicrobiologist/astrobiologist. His academic interests involve the study of life in extreme environments and the possibility of life beyond Earth. He received his first degree in biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Bristol and his PhD (DPhil) from the University of Oxford in molecular biology. He then undertook a National Acedemy of Sciences Associateship at the NASA Ames Research Centre in California before working at the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge. He moved to the Open University to take up a Chair in Geomicrobiology in 2005.

Professor Cockell sits on the European Space Agency's Planetary Protection and Life Sciences Working Groups. He is a Senior Editor of the journal 'Astrobiology' and his popular science books include ‘Impossible Extinction’, which explores the tenacity of microbes on the Earth, and ‘Space on Earth’, which looks at the links between environmentalism and space exploration. He is Chair of the Earth and Space Foundation, a non-profit organisation that links Earth and space exploration that he established in 1994. He is Director of the UK Centre for Astrobiology, established at Edinburgh in 2011.

Event resources

About General interest seminars

Our General Interest Seminars are an opportunity for distinguished speakers to present new research in physics and related areas. The material presented is suitable for undergraduate level upwards and all members of the School are welcome to attend..

Find out more about General interest seminars.