Dr. Charles H. Lineweaver

An astrophysicist, Charles H. Lineweaver, Ph.D. is an associate professor at the Australian National University’s Planetary Science Institute (PSI), a joint venture of the ANU Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics and Research School of Earth Science.
 
Charley’s research involves analysis of the statistical distribution of exoplanets, the cosmic microwave background radiation, and cosmological prerequisites for the formation of terrestrial planets and life. Educated at Ludwig-Maximillians-Universität in Munich where he was awarded highest honors in physics, he earned a Ph.D. in physics at the University of California, Berkeley in 1994.
 
Charley was a postdoctoral fellow at the Observatoire Astronomique in Strasbourg and, successively, a vice chancellor’s postdoctoral research fellow and Australian Research Council (ARC) fellow at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). He joined the UNSW faculty as a senior lecturer in 2002 and was appointed to his present position two years later.
 
His general interests are in the field of astrobiology, cosmology, and planetology.
 
More specifically he is interested in:

• The analysis of recent exoplanet data and its ability to address the question “Is our Solar System typical?”
• The cosmic microwave background radiation and its ability to constrain cosmological parameters.
• The statistical analysis of important new data sets.

His papers include Does the rapid appearance of life on Earth suggest that life is common in the Universe?, A Larger Estimate of the Entropy of the Universe, The Galactic Habitable Zone and the Age Distribution of Complex Life in the Milky Way, Cancer Tumors as Metazoa 1.0: tapping genes of ancient ancestors, To What Extent Does Terrestrial Life “Follow The Water”?, Palaeoecophylostoichiometrics Searching for the Elemental Composition of the Last Universal Common Ancestor, The Potato Radius: a Lower Minimum Size for Dwarf Planets, Signatures of a Shadow Biosphere, The Bombardment History of the Moon and the Origin of Life on Earth, and Dark-Energy Dynamics Required to Solve the Cosmic Coincidence. Read the full list of his publications!
 
Watch Interview with a Scientist — Dr. Charles H. Lineweaver and Charles H. Lineweaver Lecture, Techfest 2013, IIT Bombay. Watch his media appearances. Read New theory uncovers cancer’s deep evolutionary roots.