Paul Reichert

Biography

“On Earth, you can control every variable – other than gravity.” This little nugget of intergalactic wisdom about why conducting medical research aboard the ISS is so exciting is from Tara Ruttley, an associate program scientist for the International Space Station (ISS), during a recent event at Merck. As she explained, it’s mainly because no one really knows what will happen in zero gravity — our usual laws of physics just don’t apply in outer space. Zero gravity research allows scientists and researchers to study the underlying dynamics of why things work the way they do. Merck scientist Paul Reichert knows this first hand. He’s been working with NASA and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) to conduct his own set of zero gravity experiments for Merck aboard the ISS since 1993. Paul, who has carried out 13 experiments, including two onboard the ISS, has one main specialty: growing crystals in space.

Research Interest

Scientist