Pioneers and Innovators
Dr. Lou Allamandola
| Dr. Lou Allamandola is an astrobiologist for NASA whose research may change science's view of the origin of life. He and his colleagues have made groundbreaking discoveries in the origin of the building blocks of life at the Astrochemical Laboratory at NASA's Ames Research Center in California. Here they create simulated comets and interstellar dust grains to study their chemistry. |
Halley's Comet
| Dr. Lou and his team have found through telescopic observation that comets contain simple molecules of methanol, carbon dioxide, and ammonia, all containing essential elements of life. They take these simple compounds and freeze them in a shoe box sized apparatus that freezes them to near absolute zero (-273°C) forming a simulated comet. Then the simulated comet is exposed to ultraviolet radiation. Many complex molecules have formed from these experiments. Several of which are similar to those compounds that contribute to life. |
picture
of freezing apparatus
Page Designed By: Jim Richardson
Links and Reference:
http://nai.arc.nasa.gov/students/focus1199/