Donald Eugene Brownlee (born December 21, 1943) is a professor of

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...

at the

University of Washington at Seattle The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle ...

and the principal investigator for

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

's Stardust mission. In 2000, along with his co-author Peter Ward, he co-originated the term '' Rare Earth,'' in reference to the possible scarcity of life elsewhere in the universe. His primary research interests include astrobiology, comets, and cosmic dust. He was born in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Education and employment

Brownlee studied electrical engineering at

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, prior to attending graduate school at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

. Brownlee received his doctorate in astronomy from the University of Washington in 1971, joining the astronomy department as faculty in 1975. He has also conducted research as a distinguished visiting professor at the

Enrico Fermi Institute __NOTOC__ The Institute for Nuclear Studies was founded September 1945 as part of the University of Chicago with Samuel King Allison as director. On November 20, 1955, it was renamed The Enrico Fermi Institute for Nuclear Studies. The name was sh ...

at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

. Alongside paleontologist Peter Ward, Brownlee is the coauthor of two books, '' Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe'' (which put forth the Rare Earth Hypothesis) and ''

The Life and Death of Planet Earth ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

''.

Honors

Asteroid 3259 was named after Brownlee in 1991. The

International Mineralogical Association Founded in 1958, the International Mineralogical Association (IMA) is an international group of 40 national societies. The goal is to promote the science of mineralogy and to standardize the nomenclature of the 5000 plus known mineral species. Th ...

has also named a new

mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. ( ...

in honor of Donald Brownlee. This new

silicide A silicide is a type of chemical compound that combines silicon and a (usually) more electropositive element. Silicon is more electropositive than carbon. Silicides are structurally closer to borides than to carbides. Similar to borides and carb ...

mineral (with

chemical formula In chemistry, a chemical formula is a way of presenting information about the chemical proportions of atoms that constitute a particular chemical compound or molecule, using chemical element symbols, numbers, and sometimes also other symbols, ...

MnSi Brownleeite is a silicide mineral with chemical formula Manganese monosilicide, MnSi. It was discovered by researchers of the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Johnson Space Center in Houston while analyzing the Pi Puppids, Pi Puppid particle shower ...

) is now called

brownleeite Brownleeite is a silicide mineral with chemical formula MnSi. It was discovered by researchers of the Johnson Space Center in Houston while analyzing the Pi Puppid particle shower of the comet 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup. The only other known natural m ...

, and is the first mineral found from a comet. He has been awarded the

J. Lawrence Smith Medal J. Lawrence Smith Medal is awarded every three years by the National Academy of Sciences for investigations of meteoric bodies. The medal is in honor of its namesake, the American chemist and meteoriticist, J. Lawrence Smith. Recipients Sour ...

from the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

, the

Leonard Medal The Leonard Medal honors outstanding contributions to the science of meteoritics and closely allied fields. It is awarded by the Meteoritical Society. It was established in 1962 to honor the first President of the Society, Frederick C. Leonard. ...

from the

Meteoritical Society The Meteoritical Society is a non-profit scholarly organization founded in 1933 to promote research and education in planetary science with emphasis on studies of meteorites and other extraterrestrial materials that further our understanding of the ...

, and the NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement in 2007. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1995.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brownlee, Donald E. 1943 births UC Berkeley College of Engineering alumni University of Washington College of Arts and Sciences alumni University of Washington faculty Living people Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Astrobiologists People from Las Vegas Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences