ETH Zurich is opening a new center for research and education on the origin and universal frequency of life. Researchers from different disciplines will work there under the direction of Didier Queloz, Swiss winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics.
Within the “Center for origin and prevalence of life”, more than 40 groups of researchers attached to five departments will look into the great questions of humanity: “How did life appear on Earth? How did it developed and spread? Does life also exist outside our planet?
Researchers at the new center will mainly focus on the chemical and physical processes that have allowed the existence of living organisms and on the possibility of the existence of life on other planets. They will also wonder how an environment conducive to the sustainability of life on a planet is created, and how this life modifies the characteristics of the planet. They will also explore other possible forms of life.
Research grants, then chairs
ETH Zurich will create six new professorships and several teaching programs within the centre. Numerous scientific collaborations with international institutions will be added to this.
In the meantime, research grant programs will allow young researchers to extend their network there and build bridges between disciplines, indicates the high school. From October, young talents from all over the world will be able to apply for a “NOMIS-ETH” research grant. Nine scholarships will be awarded over the next six years. They are financed by the NOMIS foundation for an amount of 3.24 million francs.
The new center is also funded through the management of ETHZ and the relevant departments and research groups as well as by the Paul Scherrer Institute as a scientific partner. Its budget for the first six years amounts to 9 million francs. Additional support from foundations and the economy will be necessary so that the center can develop its full potential, underlines the high school.
>> Read once more: Didier Queloz, Nobel Prize in Physics, leaves Geneva for Zurich
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