Adriana Marais is a South African

theoretical physicist Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experimen ...

, technologist and advocate for off-world exploration. She is a director of the Foundation for Space Development Africa, an organisation aiming to send Africa's first mission to the Moon, the Africa2Moon Project. She is the founder of Proudly Human, an initiative of which is the Off-World Project, a series of habitation experiments in Earth's most extreme environments. For her research in

quantum biology Quantum biology is the study of applications of quantum mechanics and theoretical chemistry to aspects of biology that cannot be accurately described by the classical laws of physics. An understanding of fundamental quantum interactions is importan ...

and the origins of life, she received awards including the 2015 L'Oreal-UNESCO International Rising Talent Award. In 2020, she was among 5 global finalists for Women in Tech's the Most Disruptive Woman in Tech Award.

Education and career

Marais completed a BSc Hons 1st class (theoretical physics) at the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

(UCT) in 2004, followed by an MSc ''

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

'' (quantum cryptography) at the

University of KwaZulu-Natal The University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) is a university with five campuses in the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. It was formed on 1 January 2004 after the merger between the University of Natal and the University of Durban-Westville. ...

(UKZN) in 2010. She was awarded a PhD (quantum biology) from UKZN in 2015 for her research on quantum effects in photosynthesis and her postdoctoral research focused on the origins of prebiotic molecules and life itself. She enrolled at UCT in 2019 as a PhD candidate in economics with a focus on economic systems for resource constrained environments. During her postgraduate studies, she lectured at UKZN from 2007 - 2013 and was a visiting researcher at the

Centre for Quantum Technologies The Centre for Quantum Technologies (CQT) in Singapore is a Research Centre of Excellence hosted by the National University of Singapore. The Centre brings together physicists, computer scientists and engineers to do basic research on quantum phy ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

, from 2011 - 2012. From 2017-2019, she was Head of Innovation at SAP Africa and in 2018 she joined the faculty of

Singularity University Singularity Education Group (using the public names Singularity Group, Singularity University or SingularityU) is an American company that offers executive educational programs, a business incubator, and business consultancy services. Although ...

. In 2019, Marais founded Proudly Human, an organisation focusing on building infrastructure and teams in extreme environments in preparation for life on the Moon, Mars and beyond, as well as to provide solutions for those living in harsh conditions here on Earth. She is a member of the South African government advisory task team on the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR), the combination of hardware, software, and biology with a focus on communication and connectivity.

Proudly Human

Proudly Human’s Off-World Project will demonstrate human resilience, sustainability and community spirit in even the most extreme environments through grit, imagination, research and innovation. The project prepares for life on the Moon, Mars and beyond, as well as providing solutions for those living in harsh conditions here on Earth. Over the next few years, Proudly Human will run a series of habitation experiments, building communities and off-grid infrastructure in the most extreme environments on the planet, from the desert, to Antarctica, to under the ocean. Each experiment will last several months, generate exploration-driven innovation and research, and be filmed for a documentary series. In 2019, Marais completed location scouts to the Antarctic interior and the Oman desert. On 1 February 2021, a global call for applications for crew for the Off-World Project opened.

Foundation for Space Development

Marais was a special project coordinator of the Foundation for Space Development in 2016, and in 2017, became co-director with Carla Sharpe and Khutšo Ngoasheng. The organisation aims to send Africa's first mission to the Moon with the Africa2Moon Project, as well as driving projects including

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere. ...

mining; disaster management projects based on a geo-magnetic solar climate model; and other uses for

big data Though used sometimes loosely partly because of a lack of formal definition, the interpretation that seems to best describe Big data is the one associated with large body of information that we could not comprehend when used only in smaller am ...

in space. The Foundation aims to inspire children in developing nations via education and science, and encourages technological research in areas including space research, AI and

robotics Robotics is an interdisciplinary branch of computer science and engineering. Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist humans. Robotics integrat ...

and

open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...

communication technologies.

Mars One

In 2013, Marais volunteered for the

Mars One Mars One was a small private Dutch organization that received money from investors by claiming it would use it to land the first humans on Mars and leave them there to establish a permanent human colony. From its announcement in 2012 to its ...

Project, a private organisation, planning one-way trips to establish the first human settlement on Mars in 2026. Marais was shortlisted as one of 100 astronaut candidates with the project. In February 2019, however, Mars One declared bankruptcy.

Tod’Aérs Global Network GN

In 2020, Marais was appointed as Chair of Space Sciences for the global public-private partnership (PPP) Tod’Aérs Global Network GNfounded by the Congolese-Togolese Inventor and Advisor Manuel Ntumba. She currently serve as a Member of the Governing Board, and the Global Chair of Science and Research for the network.

Membership and recognition

Marais has received several awards, including: * One of 5 global finalists for Women in Tech's Most Disruptive Woman in Tech Award (2020) *

Royal Society of South Africa The Royal Society of South Africa is a learned society composed of eminent South African scientists and academics. The society was granted its royal charter by King Edward VII in 1908, nearly a century after Capetonians first began to conceive of ...

Meiring Naude Medal for exceptional young researcher (2016) * Alumna of the 66th Lindau Nobel Laureate Physics program (2016) * Global Women's Forum Rising Talent Award (2016) * L'Oreal-UNESCO International Rising Talent Award (2015) * Department of Science and Technology Women in Science Fellowship Award 2010

Personal life

In 2016, Marais completed the Two Oceans 56km Ultramarathon. In 2017, she summited Uhuru Peak,

Mount Kilimanjaro Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It has three volcanic cones: Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world: above sea level and ab ...

.https://www.adrianamarais.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Dr-Adriana-Marais-CV.pdf

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Marais, Adriana 21st-century South African physicists South African biologists Living people 21st-century South African women scientists L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science fellows University of KwaZulu-Natal alumni 21st-century biologists 1983 births