Ewine van Dishoeck

Ewine Fleur van Dishoeck is a leading astrochemist who has been a pioneer of employing molecules to study star and planet formation and understand the universe at the atomic level. Her research has led to key discoveries on how interstellar molecules form, change, and become part of planetary systems. She has developed molecular tools that have become widely used by the scientific community in the field of molecular astrophysics, and she has been involved in developing next-generation instruments, such as the Herschel Space Observatory and the Atacama Large Millimeter Array in Chile.

After earning a B.Sc. in Chemistry, a B.Sc. in Mathematics, an M.Sc. in Chemistry, and a Ph.D. from the University of Leiden, van Dishoeck came to the Institute as a Visitor in the School of Natural Sciences from 1984–88. She taught at Princeton University and the California Institute of Technology before returning in 1990 to the University of Leiden, where in 2012 she was honored with the inaugural title of Faculty Professor, a role in which she serves as a spokesperson for science.