NationMaster - Encyclopedia: David J. Stevenson

David J. Stevenson (September 2, 1948-) is a professor of planetary science at Caltech. Originally from New Zealand, he received his Ph.D. from Cornell University in physics, where he proposed a model for the interior of Jupiter. He is well-known for applying fluid mechanics and magnetohydrodynamics to understand the internal structure of planets and moons. In 1984, he received the H. C. Urey Prize awarded by the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society. He is a fellow of the Royal Society.

Categories: 1948 births | American astronomers | New Zealand astronomers

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Interstellar planet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (346 words)
	In 1998, David J. Stevenson authored a paper entitled "Possibility of Life Sustaining Planets in Interstellar Space" [1].
	In this paper, Stevenson theorizes that wandering planets which drift in the vast expanses of cold interstellar space could possibly sustain a thick atmosphere which would not freeze out due to radiative heat loss.
	The mechanism he proposes which preserves atmosphere formation in these bodies is due to the pressure-induced far infrared radiation opacity of a thick hydrogen-containing atmosphere.

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