Răzvan Caracas is a computational mineral physicist whose research spans a wide range of topics in planetary mineralogy, from the supercritical state that dominated the protolunar disk to the internal structure of exoplanets. With the help of atomistic simulations, he seeks to understand the Earth’s evolution during the Hadean, decipher the formation and evolution of the primordial atmosphere and hydrosphere, and explore the conditions planets must fulfill to enable prebiotic chemistry to thrive. Over the years, he has worked on all the major mineral components of the deep Earth, on water ice and other molecular crystals, as well as on a series of technological materials. He has a background in both geology and materials science. After undergraduate studies at the University of Bucharest (Romania), where he worked on crystal morphology, he pursued a PhD focused on the physical properties of modulated crystals at the Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium). His activity in high-pressure mineral physics began at the University of Minnesota (USA) and continued during a Carnegie Fellowship at the Carnegie Institution of Washington (USA), followed by a Humboldt Fellowship at the University of Bayreuth (Germany). He is currently a senior researcher at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (France).
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