Donald E. Brownlee

Donald Eugene Brownlee is a professor of astronomy at the University of Washington at Seattle and the principal investigator for NASA's Stardust mission. In 2000, along with his co-author Peter Ward, he co-originated the term Rare Earth, in reference to the possible scarcity of life elsewhere in the universe. His primary research interests include astrobiology, comets, and cosmic dust. He was born in Las Vegas, Nevada.