Razvan Caracas

Razvan Caracas is a Senior Researcher at Universite Paris Cite and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Oslo. His work bridges mineral physics, computational mineralogy, and planetary science, focusing on extreme conditions and giant impacts in planetary formation.

Education:

• B.S., Faculty of Geology and Geophysics, University of Bucharest (1997)
• M.Sc. and Ph.D., Faculty of Applied Sciences, Université Catholique de Louvain (2002, 2003)
• Habilitation, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon (2010)

His research leverages ab initio simulations and computational tools to study mineral behavior under high-pressure environments and planetary accretion processes. He has supervised students and researchers globally. Software contributions include the UMD_package for molecular dynamics analysis and the WURM database for mineral properties.

Scientific Awards:

• 2023 Dana Medal of the Mineralogical Society of America
• 2022 Fellow of the Mineralogical Society of America
• 2020 PRACE Award for 60 million CPU hours
• 2016 Ad Astra Award for Excellence in Research
• 2015 ERC Consolidator Grant
• 2013 Research Excellence Medal of the European Mineralogical Union
• 2012 Prix Henri Buttgenbach, Académie Royale de Belgique

Caracas co-organized the 'Moon Impact – a geological story' itinerant exhibition and contributed to the ABINIT software development for density functional theory calculations.