Michael Russell of Jet Propulsion Laboratory will deliver the fourth annual Lars G. Ljungdahl Lecture on Nov. 9 at 3:30 p.m. in Room C127 of the Davison Life Sciences Complex. Russell is known for his research on the emergence of life
on planets.
Open free to the public, the lecture is named in honor of a long-time and much-honored UGA faculty member, Lars G. Ljungdahl.
Russell is a member of the Planetary Chemistry Astrobiology Group at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and on the faculty at the California Institute of Technology. His research interests focus on the emergence of life and oxygenic photosynthesis in the context of hydrothermal systems on wet, rocky, sunlit planets.
“With new planets orbiting distant stars being identified almost on a daily basis, anyone interested in the origins of life or new life forms will be interested Dr. Russell’s talk,” said Alan Przybyla, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.
Among his many honors and achievements, Russell has been the Dixon Research Professor of Glasgow University, Scotland; a CRNS professor at the University of Grenoble, France; and a NASA Senior Research Fellow.
