Education and Outreach

Ph.D. Support Available: Universite Paris-SUD 11

By Keith Cowing
August 7, 2010

Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale (IAS), UMR 8617

Studies on organic matter with a potentially prebiotic interest : from the Interstellar Medium to the Solar Nebula and the Oceans on Primitive Earth

The goal of this thesis is to compare the soluble organic phase from various meteorites and compare their compositions with our organic residues from the laboratory. Thus traditional contamination problems arising from weathering and poor manipulations will be greatly reduced. The main goal can be divided into three items (1) to analyze the soluble organic matter of meteorites according to their classification, (2) to evaluate once and for all if ice photo and thermo chemistry is important not only in ISM objects but also in the ecosphere of the Solar Nebula and on primitive telluric planets and finally (3) to propose to more specialized chemists a more realistic prebiotic “soup” possibly leading to the first autocatalytic molecules. Emphasis will be given to scenarios that are relevant to our knowledge of primitive Solar System and planetary evolution as IAS has an important scientific activity in these fields.

This subject is thus largely interdisciplinary (chemistry, physical-chemistry and astrophysics). The candidate (M/F), must be in possession of a MsC in any domain related to this interdisciplinary activity. Special attention will be given to experience in physical-chemistry and/or analytical chemistry. In any case, the candidate should have an experimentalist profile, ready to devote much time in the laboratory. IAS is an institute of fundamental research with application to space instrumentation, running and exploiting space instruments. About 200 people work there (around 80 scientists), an average of 15 Ph.D. students and 15 post-docs. The scientific environment within the laboratory and the Orsay Campus, not far from Paris, is truly exceptional.

For more information, please contact:

Louis d’Hendecourt
Equipe ” Astrochimie et Origines “
Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale
Campus Universitaire d’Orsay
Bat 121 – 91405 Orsay Cedex
Tel : +33(0)1 69 85 86 40/+33(0)6 13 16 25 38
E-mail : [email protected]

or

Donia Baklouti
Equipe ” Astrochimie et Origines “
Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale
Campus Universitaire d’Orsay
Bat 121 – 91405 Orsay Cedex
Tel : +33(0)1 69 85 87 88
E-mail : [email protected]

Source: NAI Newsletter

Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Station Payload manager/space biologist, Away Teams, Journalist, Lapsed climber, Synaesthete, Na’Vi-Jedi-Freman-Buddhist-mix, ASL, Devon Island and Everest Base Camp veteran, (he/him) 🖖🏻