Abel Méndez

Abel Méndez is a planetary astrobiologist and professor at the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo.阿贝尔·门德斯（Abel Méndez）是行星天体生物学家，也是波多黎各大学阿雷西博分校（University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo）的教授。

He directs the Planetary Habitability Laboratory at that campus and is best known for helping to develop the Earth Similarity Index.他领导该校的行星宜居性实验室（Planetary Habitability Laboratory），并因参与提出地球相似指数（Earth Similarity Index）而广为人知。

His research covers potentially habitable exoplanets, planetary habitability models, and radio searches for life and technology.他的研究涵盖潜在宜居系外行星、行星宜居性模型，以及以射电手段搜寻生命与技术迹象。

Biography

By 2016 Méndez was an associate professor of physics in the Department of Physics and Chemistry at the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo.到2016年，门德斯已是波多黎各大学阿雷西博分校物理与化学系的物理学副教授。
He is now a professor at the same campus, where he works on planetary habitability and astrobiology.他目前在同一校区担任教授，从事行星宜居性与天体生物学研究。
He directs the Planetary Habitability Laboratory, which studies the habitability of Earth, the Solar System, and worlds beyond.他领导行星宜居性实验室，该实验室研究地球、太阳系以及更遥远世界的宜居性。
He is a NASA MIRS Fellow and has conducted research at Fermilab, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA's Ames Research Center, and the Arecibo Observatory.他是 NASA MIRS 研究员，并曾在费米国家加速器实验室（Fermilab）、NASA 戈达德航天中心（Goddard Space Flight Center）、NASA 艾姆斯研究中心（Ames Research Center）以及阿雷西博天文台（Arecibo Observatory）从事研究。
In 2016 he and Wilson González-Espada published Searching for Habitable Worlds, a general introduction to exoplanets and planetary habitability.2016年，他与威尔逊·冈萨雷斯-埃斯帕达（Wilson González-Espada）出版了「Searching for Habitable Worlds」，这是一部面向普通读者的系外行星与行星宜居性入门读物。^[1]
In 2017 he led an Arecibo Observatory campaign that recorded unusual radio pulses from the red dwarf Ross 128 and presented the results publicly.2017年，他主持了阿雷西博天文台的一次观测活动，记录到来自红矮星罗斯128（Ross 128）的异常射电脉冲，并向公众公布了结果。
After the Arecibo telescope collapsed in December 2020, he published a Nature correspondence on what astronomy had lost.2020年12月阿雷西博望远镜坍塌后，他在《自然》（Nature）发表通讯文章，讲述天文学因此失去了什么。^[2]
In 2021 he contributed to an Astrobiology special collection on the habitability of Earth during its first billion years.2021年，他为《天体生物学》（Astrobiology）一个关于地球最初十亿年宜居性的专题合集撰稿。^[3]
In 2024 he published the first results of the Arecibo Wow! project, which uses archived Arecibo observations to study the Wow! Signal and similar radio transients.2024年，他发表了「Arecibo Wow!」项目的第一批成果，该项目利用阿雷西博天文台的存档观测研究「Wow! 信号」及类似的射电瞬变。
In 2025 he led a reanalysis of the 1977 Wow! Signal using decades of unpublished Ohio State SETI observations.2025年，他利用俄亥俄州立大学射电搜寻项目数十年来未公开的观测数据，重新分析了1977年的「Wow! 信号」。

Research

The 2011 Astrobiology paper he co-authored with Dirk Schulze-Makuch and colleagues proposed a two-tiered scheme for assessing exoplanet habitability.2011年，他与迪尔克·舒尔策-马库赫（Dirk Schulze-Makuch）等人合作在《天体生物学》发表论文，提出了一套评估系外行星宜居性的两层方案。^[4]
Its first tier, the Earth Similarity Index, compares a world's radius, bulk density, escape velocity, and surface temperature with Earth's values.方案的第一层是地球相似指数，它将天体的半径、体积密度、逃逸速度和表面温度与地球的对应值进行比较。
The index runs from zero to one, with Earth at one, and works as a fast similarity screen rather than a direct measure of habitability.该指数取值从0到1，地球为1，其作用是快速筛选相似性，而不是直接衡量宜居性。
The second tier, the Planetary Habitability Index, scores a world on a stable substrate, available energy, suitable chemistry, and the potential to hold a liquid solvent.方案的第二层是行星宜居性指数（Planetary Habitability Index），它依据稳定的基质、可用的能量、合适的化学环境以及容纳液态溶剂的可能性为天体打分。
On 5 December 2011 the laboratory launched the Habitable Worlds Catalog, a public list of exoplanets ranked with these indices.2011年12月5日，实验室推出了宜居世界目录（Habitable Worlds Catalog），这是一份用上述指数为系外行星排序的公开清单。
By its first anniversary in December 2012 the catalog listed seven potentially habitable worlds.到2012年12月一周年时，目录已收录七颗潜在宜居世界。
Méndez also led the Visible Paleo-Earth project, a photorealistic reconstruction of Earth's land surface over the past 750 million years.门德斯还主持了可见古地球（Visible Paleo-Earth）项目，对过去7.5亿年间地球陆表进行照片级重建。
In 2012 he contributed to a dynamic habitability scheme that scores a planet or moon on its atmosphere, magnetic field, plate tectonics, surface liquids, and detectable geo-indicators and bio-indicators.2012年，他参与提出一种动态宜居性方案，依据大气、磁场、板块构造、地表液体以及可探测的地质指标和生物指标为行星或卫星打分。^[5]
A 2014 study with Louis Irwin and colleagues introduced a Biological Complexity Index and estimated that more than 100 million Milky Way worlds could score above Europa.2014年，他与路易斯·欧文（Louis Irwin）等人提出生物复杂性指数（Biological Complexity Index），并估计银河系中可能有超过一亿个天体的得分高于木卫二。^[6]
In 2017 he and Edgard Rivera-Valentín showed that a planet's average equilibrium temperature falls with orbital eccentricity, approaching 90 percent of the circular-orbit value.2017年，他与埃德加德·里维拉-巴伦丁（Edgard Rivera-Valentín）证明，行星的平均平衡温度会随轨道偏心率增大而下降，趋近于圆轨道值的90%。^[7]
A 2021 review with a large team compared astrobiological habitability models with ecological habitat suitability models and called for shared standards.2021年，他与一个大型团队合作发表综述，将天体生物学的宜居性模型与生态学的栖息地适宜性模型相比较，并呼吁建立共享标准。^[8]
His early work compared the biophysical limits of microbial life with conditions on Earth and Mars to map potential habitable zones.他的早期工作通过比较微生物生命的生物物理极限与地球和火星的环境条件，绘制了潜在的宜居带。^[9]
In 2017 he led the Ross 128 radio campaign, which recorded broadband, non-polarized pulses later attributed to satellite interference.2017年，他主持了罗斯128射电观测活动，记录到宽带、非偏振的脉冲，这些信号后来被归因于卫星干扰。
The Arecibo Wow! project searches archived Arecibo data at the 1420 MHz hydrogen line for narrowband signals that could be astrophysical or technological.「Arecibo Wow!」项目在1420兆赫氢谱线附近检索阿雷西博天文台的存档数据，寻找可能来自天体物理过程或技术活动的窄带信号。
Its first paper reported narrowband hydrogen signals from cold interstellar clouds and proposed that a magnetar flare or soft gamma repeater could have produced a maser-like brightening.该系列的第一篇论文报告了来自冷星际云团的窄带氢信号，并提出磁星耀发或软伽马射线重复暴可能造成了类微波激射的增亮。
The second paper refined the Wow! Signal's position, its peak flux above 250 jansky, and its frequency of 1420.726 MHz, and argued for an astrophysical origin over radio interference.第二篇论文修正了「Wow! 信号」的位置、超过250央斯基（jansky）的峰值流量以及1420.726兆赫的频率，并认为天体物理起源比射电干扰更合理。

Awards

In 2007 NASA selected him as a fellow of its Minority Institution Research Support program, later renamed the Astrobiology Faculty Diversity Program.2007年，NASA 遴选他为少数族裔机构研究支持计划（Minority Institution Research Support）研究员，该计划后来更名为天体生物学教师多元化计划（Astrobiology Faculty Diversity）。
In 2024 he received a NASA SCoPE seed grant as principal investigator of Arecibo Wow! Exploring Interstellar Communication, which funded an OpenSpace event on 16 November 2024 marking the fiftieth anniversary of the Arecibo Message.2024年，他作为「Arecibo Wow! Exploring Interstellar Communication」项目首席研究员获得 NASA SCoPE 种子基金，该基金资助了2024年11月16日纪念阿雷西博信息发送五十周年的 OpenSpace 活动。
The Planetary Habitability Laboratory lists the NASA Astrobiology Institute and the NASA Habitable Worlds Program among its sponsors.行星宜居性实验室将 NASA 天体生物学研究所和 NASA 宜居世界计划（Habitable Worlds Program）列为其资助方。
It also receives support from the National Science Foundation, the University of Puerto Rico, and the Puerto Rico Space Grant Consortium.该实验室还获得美国国家科学基金会（National Science Foundation）、波多黎各大学以及波多黎各太空资助联盟（Puerto Rico Space Grant Consortium）的支持。
His research has been covered by New Scientist, American Scientist, Scientific American, National Geographic, and Nature.他的研究曾被《新科学家》（New Scientist）、《美国科学家》（American Scientist）、《科学美国人》（Scientific American）、《国家地理》（National Geographic）和《自然》报道。
In 2023 American Scientist published his feature article On the Hunt for Another Earth.2023年，《美国科学家》刊发了他的专题文章「On the Hunt for Another Earth」。^[10]

Personal life

Méndez works at the Arecibo campus of the University of Puerto Rico and lists a laboratory address in Arecibo, Puerto Rico.门德斯在波多黎各大学阿雷西博分校工作，其实验室通讯地址位于波多黎各阿雷西博。
He gives interviews in both Spanish and English, including a 2017 BBC Mundo conversation about Ross 128.他用西班牙语和英语接受采访，其中包括2017年就罗斯128接受 BBC Mundo 的采访。
He is an active science communicator on X and Bluesky under the handle @ProfAbelMendez.他在 X 和 Bluesky 上以 @ProfAbelMendez 的账号积极从事科学传播。
In that BBC interview he said he had a piña colada ready to celebrate if the Ross 128 signals proved astronomical.在那次 BBC 采访中，他说如果罗斯128的信号被证明来自天文现象，他已经准备好一杯椰林飘香（piña colada）来庆祝。
He has described how school field trips to Arecibo introduce Puerto Rican children to science and sometimes lead them to research careers.他谈到，波多黎各每个学童都会参加参观阿雷西博望远镜的实地考察，这些经历常常引导他们走上科学职业道路。
He appears in the documentaries One Strange Rock and The Biggest Dream.他出现在纪录片「One Strange Rock」和「The Biggest Dream」中。
Students from the University of Puerto Rico appear as co-authors on his papers, including the Arecibo Wow! studies.波多黎各大学的学生作为合著者出现在他的论文中，包括「Arecibo Wow!」系列研究。

References

^Méndez, A., and González-Espada, W. Searching for Habitable Worlds: An Introduction. Morgan & Claypool, 2016. doi:10.1088/978-1-6817-4401-8
^Méndez, A. Arecibo Observatory: another great lost in 2020. Nature, 2020. doi:10.1038/d41586-020-03552-2
^Rivera-Valentín, E. G., et al. Introduction—First Billion Years: Habitability. Astrobiology, 2021. doi:10.1089/ast.2020.2314
^Schulze-Makuch, D., et al. A Two-Tiered Approach to Assessing the Habitability of Exoplanets. Astrobiology, 2011. doi:10.1089/ast.2010.0592
^Schulze-Makuch, D., et al. A Dynamic Scheme to Assess Habitability of Exoplanets. In Life on Earth and Other Planetary Bodies. Springer, 2012. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-4966-5_18
^Irwin, L. N., et al. Assessing the Possibility of Biological Complexity on Other Worlds, with an Estimate of the Occurrence of Complex Life in the Milky Way Galaxy. Challenges, 2014. doi:10.3390/challe5010159
^Méndez, A., and Rivera-Valentín, E. G. The Equilibrium Temperature of Planets in Elliptical Orbits. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 2017. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/aa5f13
^Méndez, A., et al. Habitability Models for Astrobiology. Astrobiology, 2021. doi:10.1089/ast.2020.2342
^Méndez, A. Planetary Habitable Zones: The Spatial Distribution of Life on Planetary Bodies. In First Steps in the Origin of Life in the Universe. Springer, 2001. doi:10.1007/978-94-010-1017-7_37
^Méndez, A. On the Hunt for Another Earth. American Scientist, 2023. doi:10.1511/2023.111.4.242