Paola Caselli (born 1966) is an Italian astronomer and astrochemist known for her research on molecular clouds, star formation and planet formation, and the astrochemistry behind the materials found within the Solar System.
[1] She is the director of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics near Munich in Germany.
She also holds an honorary professorship at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.
[2][3] Caselli was born on 26 July 1966 in Follonica, Italy,[2] and as a teenager was inspired to work in space science and molecular clouds by a teacher who gave her Fred Hoyle's 1957 science fiction novel The Black Cloud to read.
[2] While continuing at the Max Planck Institute, she has also held temporary positions as Hasselblad Guest Professor at the Onsala Space Observatory in Sweden and as Blaauw Professor at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.