Dirk Schulze-Makuch

Dirk Schulze-Makuch
Dirk Schulze-Makuch in May 2020
Born	(1964-01-29) 29 January 1964 (age 60) Giessen, Germany
Nationality	German and American
Alma mater	Justus Liebig University, Giessen
Known for	(with L.N. Irwin) Life in the Universe (book)
Awards	Friedrich-Wilhelm Bessel Award (2010)
Scientific career
Fields	Astrobiology Geology
Institutions	Technische Universität Berlin German Aerospace Centre Washington State University University of Texas at El Paso University of Wisconsin Justus Liebig University

Dirk Schulze-Makuch (born 1964) is a professor at the Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics at Technische Universität Berlin, Germany and adjunct professor at the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences Washington State University, Pullman, Washington. He is best known for his publications on extraterrestrial life, being coauthor of five books on the topic: The Cosmic Zoo: Complex Life on Many Worlds (2017), A One Way Mission to Mars: Colonizing the Red Planet (2011), We Are Not Alone: Why We Have Already Found Extraterrestrial Life (2010), Cosmic Biology: How Life could Evolve on Other Worlds (2010), and Life in the Universe: Expectations and Constraints (2004, 2008, 2018). In 2012 he published with David Darling Megacatastrophes! Nine Strange Ways the World Could End. In 2013 he published the second edition of his science fiction novel Alien Encounter. Together with Paul Davies he proposed in 2010 exploration of Mars by a one-way trip to the planet.^[1]

Education and career

His upbringing was in Giessen, Germany, where he received his Diplom-Degree (M.S.) in Geology from Justus Liebig University in 1991. In 1996 he obtained his Ph.D. in Geosciences from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. After having worked as Senior Project Hydrogeologist at Envirogen, a Princeton-based research and consulting firm, for which he investigated subsurface hydrocarbon spills, he became in 1997 adjunct professor at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. In 1998 he joined the University of Texas at El Paso as assistant professor, investigating microbe and chemical transport in groundwater, and microbial interaction in a planetary environment. From there he joined Washington State University in 2004: first as associate professor, since 2010 as professor at the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, with focus on astrobiology and planetary habitability. Since 2013 he is a professor at Technische Universität Berlin (Germany) and led as Principal Investigator the European Union – funded ERC Advanced Grant project on the “Habitability of Martian Environments” from 2013 to 2019.^[2] In 2019 he has been awarded an ERC Proof of Concept Grant.^[3]

Scientific research

Schulze-Makuch's research interests and publications range from life beyond Earth,^[4][5][6] including planetary protection,^[7] hydrobiology,^[8][9] archeology,^[10] to cancer.^[11] To the viewer he may be best known for his work in astrobiology ^[12][13] in particular the possible existence of life on Venus,^[14][15] Mars,^{[16][17][18][19][20]} Titan,^[21][22] Europa,^[23][24] and Io .^[25] With Ian Crawford he proposed that microbial life may have existed temporarily on Earth´s Moon, at a time of major volcanic outgassing about 3.5 billion years ago.^[26] In his book The Cosmic Zoo: Complex Life on Many Worlds (with William Bains) he advanced the idea that complex life might be common, but technologically advanced life rare, as this transition has only been achieved once in the natural history of Earth despite many different intelligent species existing on our planet. His book Life in the Universe (with L. N. Irwin) and his studies^[27][28][29] consider alternative physiologies for extraterrestrial life. In his more recent work Dirk Schulze-Makuch suggested that the Viking experiments might have accidentally killed indigenous Martian life by applying too much water to the Martian soil and that the search for life on Mars should be focusing on hygroscopic salts as a potential habitat.^[30] Also, he proposed in a paper with Ian Crawford that the solution to the Fermi Paradox may either be the Zoo Hypothesis or that – as a technical advanced species – we are (nearly) alone in the Universe. ^[31]

Patents

Removal of Biological Pathogens Using Surfactant Modified Zeolite. Patent No. US 7,311,839 B2. Date of patent: dec. 25, 2007.^[32]

Optical Instrument to Determine Bioparticles in a Fluid Medium (Using a Smartphone) Patent No. Germany 10 2021 105 030, Date of Patent 15 June 2022.

Awards

Friedrich-Wilhelm Bessel Award (2010) by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

Media activity

The work of Schulze-Makuch has received much attention. It has been the subject of TV programs on the BBC, the National Geographic and the Discovery Channel, and of numerous articles in magazines such as New Scientist, The Guardian and Der Spiegel.

Blog: Air&Space Magazine: Life beyond Earth^[33]

Works

Academic books

• Life in the Universe: Expectations and Constraints (with L.N. Irwin) (3rd ed.) (2018) ISBN 978-3-319976570
• Life in the Universe: Expectations and Constraints (with L.N. Irwin) (2nd ed.) (2008) ISBN 978-3-540-76816-6
• Life in the Universe: Expectations and Constraints (with L.N. Irwin) (2004) ISBN 978-3-540-76816-6

Popular science books

• The Cosmic Zoo (2017) ISBN 3-319-62044-4 ISBN 978-3-319-62044-2
• The Extraterrestrial Encyclopedia (2nd edition, 2016) (with D. Darling)
• How To Develop The Solar System and Beyond: A Roadmap to Interstellar Space (with A. Sinclair and six more authors) (2012) ASIN B009KWNO02
• Megacatastrophes! Nine Strange Ways the World Could End (with D. Darling) (2012) ISBN 978-1-85168-905-7
• A One Way Mission to Mars: Colonizing the Red Planet (with P. Davies and ten more authors; J.S. Levine, editor) (2011) ISBN 978-0-9829552-4-6
• We Are Not Alone: Why We Have Already Found Extraterrestrial Life (with D. Darling) (2010) ISBN 978-1-85168-719-0
• Cosmic Biology: How Life Could Evolve on Other Worlds (with L.N. Irwin) (2010) ISBN 978-1-4419-1646-4

Science fiction novel

• Alien Encounter: A Scientific Novel (2nd ed.) (2013) ISBN 3319019600
• Voids of Eternity: Alien Encounter (2009) ISBN 978-0-615-27540-6

References

1. Schulze-Makuch, D.; Davies, P. (2010). "To Boldly Go: A One-Way Human Mission to Mars". Journal of Cosmology. 12: 3619–3626. Archived from the original on October 23, 2010.
2. "Habitability of Martian Environments: Exploring the Physiological and Environmental Limits of Life". European Research Council. Retrieved 2021-10-20.
3. "PortPath: A Portable Device for Detecting Pathogens". European Research Council. Retrieved 2021-10-20.
4. Heinz, J.; Krahn, T. & Schulze-Makuch, D. (2020). "A new record for microbial perchlorate tolerance: fungal growth in NaClO4 Brines and its implications for putative life on Mars". Life. 10 (5): 53. doi:10.3390/life10050053. PMC 7281446. PMID 32353964.
5. Schulze-Makuch, D. & Bains, W. (2018). "Time to consider search strategies for complex life on exoplanets". Nature Astronomy. 2 (6): 432. Bibcode:2018NatAs...2..432S. doi:10.1038/s41550-018-0476-2. S2CID 64692257.
6. Bains, W.; Schulze-Makuch, D. (2016). "The cosmic zoo: the (near) inevitability for the evolution of complex, macroscopic life". Life. 6 (3): 25. doi:10.3390/life6030025. PMC 5041001. PMID 27376334.
7. Fairen, A.G.; Schulze-Makuch, D. (2013). "The overprotection of Mars". Nature Geoscience. 6 (7): 510. Bibcode:2013NatGe...6..510F. doi:10.1038/ngeo1866.
8. Schulze-Makuch, D.; Haque, S.; Beckles, D.; Schmitt-Kopplin, P.; Harir, M.; Schneider, B.; Stumpp, C.; Wagner, D. (2020). "A chemical and microbial characterization of selected mud volcanoes reveals pathogens introduced by surface water and rainwater". Science of the Total Environment. 707 (136087): 707. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.136087. PMID 31874397. S2CID 209474384.
9. Schulze-Makuch, D.; Cherkauer, D.S. (1998). "Variations in hydraulic conductivity with scale of measurement during aquifer tests in heterogeneous, porous carbonate rocks". Hydrogeology Journal. 6 (2): 204–215. Bibcode:1998HydJ....6..204S. doi:10.1007/s100400050145. S2CID 129868404.
10. Schulze-Makuch, D. (1996). "Survey of the outline of an early Roman Marching Camp in Germany by Rammner's Current Line Perturbation Method". Journal of Archaeological Science. 23 (6): 883–887. doi:10.1006/jasc.1996.0083.
11. António, M.R.S.; Schulze-Makuch, D. (2009). "The immune system as key to cancer treatment: triggering its activity with microbial agents". Bioscience Hypotheses. 2 (6): 388–392. doi:10.1016/j.bihy.2009.08.003.
12. Irwin, L.N.; Schulze-Makuch, D. (2001). "Assessing the plausibility of life on other worlds". Astrobiology. 1 (2): 143–160. Bibcode:2001AsBio...1..143I. doi:10.1089/153110701753198918. PMID 12467118.
13. António, M.R.S.; Schulze-Makuch, D. (2010). "The power of social structure: how we became an intelligent lineage". International Journal of Astrobiology. 10 (1): 15–23. Bibcode:2011IJAsB..10...15D. doi:10.1017/s1473550410000169. S2CID 122961268.
14. Schulze-Makuch, D.; Irwin, L.N. (2002). "Reassessing the possibility of life on Venus: Proposal for an Astrobiology Mission". Astrobiology. 2 (2): 197–202. Bibcode:2002AsBio...2..197S. doi:10.1089/15311070260192264. PMID 12469368.
15. Schulze-Makuch, D.; Grinspoon, D.H.; Abbas, O.; Irwin, L.N. & Bullock, M. (2004). "A sulfur-based UV adaptation strategy for putative phototrophic life in the Venusian atmosphere". Astrobiology. 4 (1): 11–18. Bibcode:2004AsBio...4...11S. doi:10.1089/153110704773600203. PMID 15104900.
16. Fairén, A.G.; et al. (2010). "Noachian and more recent phyllosilicates in impact craters on Mars". PNAS. 107 (4): 12, 095–12, 100. Bibcode:2010PNAS..107...12C. doi:10.1073/pnas.0912404107. PMC 2824403. PMID 20133883.
17. Davila, A.F.; Schulze-Makuch, D. (2016). "The last possible outposts of life on Mars". Astrobiology. 16 (2): 159–168. Bibcode:2016AsBio..16..159D. doi:10.1089/ast.2015.1380. PMID 26836457.
18. Schulze-Makuch, D.; et al. (2018). "Transitory microbial habitat in the hyperarid Atacama Desert". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 115 (11): 2670–2675. Bibcode:2018PNAS..115.2670S. doi:10.1073/pnas.1714341115. PMC 5856521. PMID 29483268.
19. Heinz, J.; Schulze-Makuch, D. (2020). "Thiophenes on Mars: biotic or abiotic origin?". Astrobiology. 20 (4): 552–561. Bibcode:2020AsBio..20..552H. doi:10.1089/ast.2019.2139. PMID 32091933.
20. Maus, D.; Heinz, J.; Schirmack, J.; Airo, A.; Kounaves, S.P.; Wagner, D.; Schulze-Makuch, D. (2020). "Methanogenic archaea can produce methane in deliquescence-driven Mars analog environments". Scientific Reports. 10 (6): 6. Bibcode:2020NatSR..10....6M. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-56267-4. PMC 6949245. PMID 31913316.
21. Schulze-Makuch, D.; Grinspoon, D.H. (2005). "Biologically Enhanced Energy and Carbon Cycling on Titan?". Astrobiology. 5 (4): 560–567. arXiv:physics/0501068. Bibcode:2005AsBio...5..560S. doi:10.1089/ast.2005.5.560. PMID 16078872. S2CID 7923827.
22. Meckenstock, R.U.; von Netzer, F.; Stumpp, C.; Lueders, T.; Himmelberg, A.M.; Hertkorn, N.; Schmitt-Kopplin, P.; Harir, M.; Hosein, R.; Hosein, R.; Schulze-Makuch, D. (2014). "Water inclusions in oil are microhabitats for microbial life". Science. 345 (6197): 673–676. Bibcode:2014Sci...345..673M. doi:10.1126/science.1252215. PMID 25104386. S2CID 13491492.
23. Irwin, L.N.; Schulze-Makuch, D. (2003). "Strategy for modeling putative ecosystems on Europa". Astrobiology. 3 (4): 813–821. Bibcode:2003AsBio...3..813I. doi:10.1089/153110703322736114. PMID 14987484.
24. Figueredo, P.H.; Greeley, R.; Neuer, S.; Irwin, L.N. & Schulze-Makuch, D. (2003). "Locating potential biosignatures on Europa from surface geology observations". Astrobiology. 3 (4): 851–861. Bibcode:2003AsBio...3..851F. doi:10.1089/153110703322736132. PMID 14987486.
25. Schulze-Makuch, D. (2010). "Io: Is life possible between fire and ice?". Journal of Cosmology. 5: 912–919. Archived from the original on February 23, 2010.
26. Schulze-Makuch, D.; Crawford, I.A. (2018). "Was there an early habitability window for Earth´s Moon?". Astrobiology. 18 (8): 985–988. Bibcode:2018AsBio..18..985S. doi:10.1089/ast.2018.1844. PMC 6225594. PMID 30035616.
27. Schulze-Makuch, D.; Irwin, L.N. (2006). "The prospect of alien life in exotic forms on other worlds". Naturwissenschaften. 93 (4): 155–172. Bibcode:2006NW.....93..155S. doi:10.1007/s00114-005-0078-6. PMID 16525788. S2CID 3207913.
28. Houtkooper, J.M.; Schulze-Makuch, D. (2007). "A possible biogenic origin for hydrogen peroxide on Mars: the Viking results reinterpreted". Int. J. Astrobiol. 6 (2): 147–152. arXiv:physics/0610093. Bibcode:2007IJAsB...6..147H. doi:10.1017/S1473550407003746. S2CID 8091895.
29. Schulze-Makuch, D.; Schulze-Makuch, A.; Houtkooper, J. (2015). "The physical, chemical, and physiological limits of life". Life. 5 (3): 1472–1486. doi:10.3390/life5031472. PMC 4598648. PMID 26193325.
30. Schulze-Makuch, D. (2024). "We may be looking for Martian life in the wrong place". Nature Astronomy. 8: 1208–1210. doi:10.1038/s41550-024-02381-x.
31. Crawford, I.; Schulze-Makuch, D. (2024). "Is the apparent absence of extraterrestrial technological civilisations down to the Zoo Hypothesis or nothing?". Nature Astronomy. 8: 44–49. doi:10.1038/s41550-023-02134-2.
32. "Patent US7311839 - Removal of biological pathogens using surfactant-modified zeolite - Google Patents". Retrieved 2013-04-22.
33. "Life Beyond Earth".

External links

• Dirk Schulze-Makuch publications indexed by Google Scholar
• Official website