Mark McCaughrean
(Photo by Finn McCaughrean)
I am an adjunct scientist at the Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie in Heidelberg, working on science from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. Until the end of March 2024, I was the Senior Advisor for Science & Exploration at the European Space Agency, where I was also responsible for communicating results from ESA’s astronomy, heliophysics, planetary, and exploration missions to the scientific community and wider public. After studying at the University of Edinburgh, I worked at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, astronomical institutes in Tucson, Heidelberg, Bonn, and Potsdam, and the University of Exeter, before joining ESA in 2009. My scientific research focuses on the formation of stars and their planetary systems, and I am also an Interdisciplinary Scientist for JWST.
I am a co-founder of Space Rocks, which celebrates space exploration and the art, music, and culture it inspires through public events and more.