After a doctorate in the Dept. of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics at the University of Oxford, England, I worked as a planetary scientist near San Francisco at NASA\u2019s Ames Research Center from 1995-2001. In 2001, I joined the faculty at the University of Washington in Seattle. I also had a stint as European Union Marie Curie Chair in Earth and Planetary System Science at the University of Bristol, England, from 2005-2008, while also an affiliate professor at the University of Washington. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Currently, I’m a Professor jointly appointed to the Dept. of Earth and Space Sciences and cross-campus Astrobiology Program at the University of Washington. My research interests revolve around understanding the co-evolution of planetary atmospheres, planetary surfaces, and life. This includes collecting and interpreting data from other planets and the Earth. A key goal is to understand the habitability of planets in general. I have also been involved in NASA\u2019s exploration of Mars and was part of a 35-person team of scientists responsible for NASA\u2019s Phoenix Mission, a probe that landed and operated successfully in the northern polar region of Mars in 2008. I am author of the book, Astrobiology: A Very Short Introduction<\/a>— a readable and up-to-date summary of the subject. I also have co-written a technical book aimed at researchers and PhD students entitled Atmospheric Evolution on Inhabited and Lifeless Worlds<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For more info on research, check out my publications<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n D. C. Catling, J. F. Kasting, Atmospheric Evolution on Inhabited and Lifeless Worlds, Cambridge University Press, 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n J. Krissansen-Totton, D. Bergsman, D. C. Catling, On detecting biospheres from chemical disequilibrium in planetary atmospheres, Astrobiology 16, 39-67, 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n T. D. Robinson & D. C. Catling, Common 0.1 bar tropopause in thick atmospheres set by pressure-dependent infrared transparency, Nature Geoscience, 7, 12-15, 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n D. C. Catling, Astrobiology: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n D.C. Catling, S. E. Wood, C. Leovy, D. R. Montgomery, H. Greenberg, C.R. Glein, J. M. Moore, Light-toned layered deposits in Juventae Chasma, Mars, Icarus, 181, 26-51, 2006.<\/p>\n\n\n\n D. C. Catling, C. P. McKay, and K. J. Zahnle, Biogenic methane, hydrogen escape, and the irreversible oxidation of early Earth, Science, 293, 839-843, 2001.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My research interests revolve around understanding the co-evolution of planetary atmospheres, planetary surfaces, and life. This includes collecting and interpreting data from other planets and the Earth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5765,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"tags":[],"profile_types":[27],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/astrobio\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/552"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/astrobio\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/astrobio\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/profile"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/astrobio\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/astrobio\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6284,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/astrobio\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/552\/revisions\/6284"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/astrobio\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/astrobio\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/astrobio\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552"},{"taxonomy":"profile_types","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/astrobio\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile_types?post=552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Current Students:<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Past Students & Postdocs:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Selected Publications<\/h3>