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Space/Science » in reply to Chris Chyba isn't ruling out disease transmission

Chyba Is Neither A Microbiologist or an MD, He's A Physicist
Mark Eby — (archived)

Just like RL except maybe smarter and definitely more accomplished.

From From MacArthur Foundation

Biography:

Christopher Chyba received a B.A. (1982) in physics from Swarthmore College, a B.A. (1984) in mathematics and an M.Phil (1986) in the history and philosophy of science from the University of Cambridge, and a Ph.D. (1991) in astronomy from Cornell University. He has held academic positions at Cornell University, Princeton University, and the University of Arizona, and served as the Director for Environmental Affairs for the National Security Council and as the Energy Liaison for the White House Office of Science and Technology. Chyba was a Marshall Scholar (1982-1985) and a White House Fellow (1993-1994). In 1996, he received a Presidential Early Career Award.

He does work as an astrobiologist, but he is not nearly as qualified as the Microbiologists and MD's who concluded the risk is low. He probably is actually quoting their work rather than relying on his own to a large extent as they made similar comments about possible hazards and he references the report in the article you site. The main difference is that the report clearly indicates that the risk is low because these types of examples in a very complex and varied ecosystem are very rare.

Without actually reviewing his work I would guess he actually applies the fields he has degrees in to questions relevant to astrobiology rather than switching to entirely different fields. He has no doubt picked up a lot of out of field info though.

Regards,
Mark

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