Martyn J. Fogg
Encyclopedia

Biography

After becoming a dental surgeon
Dental surgery
Dental surgery is any of a number of medical procedures that involve artificially modifying dentition, in other words surgery of the teeth and jaw bones.-Types:Some of the more common are:...

, Fogg earned a degree in physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...

 and geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...

 and a master's degree in astrophysics
Astrophysics
Astrophysics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the physics of the universe, including the physical properties of celestial objects, as well as their interactions and behavior...

, and is working on a Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...

 in planetary science
Planetary science
Planetary science is the scientific study of planets , moons, and planetary systems, in particular those of the Solar System and the processes that form them. It studies objects ranging in size from micrometeoroids to gas giants, aiming to determine their composition, dynamics, formation,...

. Fogg lives in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

.

Contributions to Planetary Engineering

Beginning in 1985, Fogg began publishing several articles on terraforming. Since then, he has published over two dozen technical articles on terraforming in peer-reviewed journals, including Icarus
Icarus (journal)
Icarus is a premier scientific journal dedicated to the field of planetary science. It is published under the auspices of the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences . The longtime publisher was Academic Press, which is now part of Elsevier...

, Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy and Astrophysics
* Astronomy and Astrophysics has a 2010 impact factor of 4.410.-See also:*The Astronomy and Astrophysics Review‎*Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and Astrophysics*Astronomy & Geophysics*Astronomical Journal*Astrophysical Journal...

, Journal of the British Interplanetary Society
Journal of the British Interplanetary Society
The Journal of the British Interplanetary Society is a technical scientific journal, first published in 1934. JBIS is concerned with space science and space technology...

, Comments on Astrophysics, and Advances in Space Research.

He also served as editor for a full issue on terraforming for the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society in 1991, and in 1995 published the first technical book on terraforming titled Terraforming: Engineering Planetary Environments. Fogg also maintains a website called the Terraforming Information Pages.

Fogg's research has included computer simulation modeling and theoretical work on subjects including planetary formation, stellar habitable zone
Habitable zone
In astronomy and astrobiology, a habitable zone is an umbrella term for regions that are considered favourable to life. The concept is inferred from the empirical study of conditions favourable for Life on Earth...

s, terraforming Venus
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows...

 and Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...

, prolonging the stable lifetime of star
Star
A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...

s, transferring planets from one solar system
Solar System
The Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...

 to another while minimizing the impact to the planet's climate
Climate
Climate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elemental measurements in a given region over long periods...

, converting gas giant
Gas giant
A gas giant is a large planet that is not primarily composed of rock or other solid matter. There are four gas giants in the Solar System: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune...

s into stars, potential interaction between intelligent civilizations, and a wide variety of particular terraforming techniques and strategies.

Fogg used the following definitions for different aspects related to terraforming:
  • Planetary Engineering: the application of technology for the purpose of influencing the global properties of a planet.
  • Geoengineering: planetary engineering applied specifically to the Earth. It includes only those macroengineering concepts that deal with the alteration of some global parameter, such as the greenhouse effect, atmospheric composition, insolation or impact flux.
  • Terraforming: a process of planetary engineering, specifically directed at enhancing the capacity of an extraterrestrial planetary environment to support life. The ultimate in terraforming would be to create an uncontained planetary biosphere emulating all the functions of the biosphere of the Earth, one that would be fully habitable for human beings.
  • Astrophysical Engineering: taken to represent proposed activities, relating to future habitation, that are envisaged to occur on a scale greater than that of "conventional" planetary engineering.


Fogg also devised definitions for candidate planets of varying degrees of human compatibility:
  • Habitable Planet (HP): A world with an environment sufficiently similar to the Earth as to allow comfortable and free human habitation.
  • Biocompatible Planet (BP): A planet possessing the necessary physical parameters for life to flourish on its surface. If initially lifeless, then such a world could host a biosphere of considerable complexity without the need for terraforming.
  • Easily Terraformable Planet (ETP): A planet that might be rendered biocompatible, or possibly habitable, and maintained so by modest planetary engineering techniques and with the limited resources of a starship or robot precursor mission.


Fogg designates Mars as having been a biocompatible planet in its youth, but not being in any of these three categories in its present state, since it could only be terraformed with relatively greater difficulty. He considers Venus never to have been an easily terraformable planet.

Fogg is commonly referenced in contemporary articles on terraforming.

External links


Sample Technical Articles

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