Konstantin Batygin

At-a-Glance

Serves as Professor of Planetary Sciences at Caltech since 2014, focusing on planetary dynamics and formation.
Co-Founder and Head of Technology at Lucinetic, an artificial intelligence company, since 2021.
Proposed the existence of a ninth planet in the Solar System with Michael E. Brown in 2016.
Demonstrated in 2012 that misalignments between stellar spin-axes and planetary orbits can arise from gravitational perturbations.
Showed in 2018 that the evolution of astrophysical disks can be modeled with the Schrödinger equation.
Holds a Ph.D. in Planetary Science from California Institute of Technology (2012).
Plays lead guitar and sings in his band, The Seventh Season, which has performed hundreds of shows.

Biography

Konstantin Batygin is an American astronomer and Professor of Planetary Sciences at Caltech, where he has been a faculty member since 2014. His research primarily focuses on understanding the formation and evolution of planetary systems, including the dynamics of planets, planetary formation, and celestial mechanics within the solar system and exoplanet systems.