Astrochemistry

Olivia Harper Wilkins is an astrochemist and artist passionate about sharing science through different media. In addition to writing this book, she also illustrated the cover and components of multiple figures throughout. She earned her B.S. in chemistry and mathematics from Dickinson College in 2015, after which she spent a year doing laboratory astrophysics at the Universität zu Köln in Germany as a Fulbright Research Fellow. Olivia then began working toward her Ph.D. in chemistry at Caltech as an NSF Graduate Research Fellow. As an observational astrochemist, she observes complex organic chemistry in high-mass star-forming regions. Outside her research, Olivia enjoys teaching and learning about effective pedagogy, using the local coffee shop as an office, and visiting National Parks with her husband Alex and their son Günther. Olivia is also a radio telescope enthusiast and has a particular fondness for large single-dish telescopes.

Professor Geoffrey A. Blake is a Professor of Cosmochemistry and Planetary Sciences and Professor of Chemistry at Caltech. He received his B.S. degree in Chemistry from Duke University in 1981 and his Ph.D. from the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at Caltech in 1986. After a stint as a Miller Basic Research Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, he returned to Caltech as a faculty member in the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences in 1987. His research has been recognized by a David and Lucille Packard award, a Sloan Fellowship, a NSF Presidential Young Investigator award, and the 2021 AAS Laboratory Astrophysics Division Prize, among others. Along the way, he has been privileged to mentor over forty incredible students and postdoctoral fellows.