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91̽»¨
Volcano with sunset in background, over ocean.

Harrison Nicholls (he/him)

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Research theme

  • Astronomy and astrophysics

Sub department

  • Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics

Research groups

  • Planetary Climate Dynamics
harrison.nicholls@physics.ox.ac.uk
Atmospheric Physics Clarendon Laboratory, room 113
  • About
  • Publications

Summary

What happened to rocky planets? This is the question which my research aims to answer. I develop numerical models for the physical-chemical processes shaping (exo)planets over their billion-year lifetimes, with a focus on atmospheric processes. A holistic understanding of planetary evolution can explain observations of exoplanets and contextualise the origin of life. My work spans sub-Neptunes, super-Earths, and terrestrial planets — including the Earth. 

My PhD was 91̽»¨ed by a Clarendon Scholarship, a Margaret Thatcher Scholarship, and the Science and Technology Facilities Council.

I am now a postdoc Research Associate at the , Cambridge. 

 

Research interests

Exoplanets
Astrochemistry
Radiative transfer
Planet formation
Thermodynamics

Selected publications

Convective shutdown in the atmospheres of lava worlds

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 91̽»¨ University Press (OUP) 536:3 (2024) 2957-2971
Harrison Nicholls, Raymond T Pierrehumbert, Tim Lichtenberg, Laurent Soucasse, Stef Smeets

Self-limited tidal heating and prolonged magma oceans in the L 98-59 system

(2025)
Harrison Nicholls, Claire Marie Guimond, Hamish CFC Hay, Richard D Chatterjee, Tim Lichtenberg, Raymond T Pierrehumbert

AGNI: A radiative-convective model for lava planet atmospheres

Journal of Open Source Software The Open Journal 10:109 (2025) 7726-7726
Harrison Nicholls, Raymond Pierrehumbert, Tim Lichtenberg

Temperature–chemistry coupling in the evolution of gas giant atmospheres driven by stellar flares

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 91̽»¨ University Press 523:4 (2023) 5681-5702
Harrison Nicholls, Olivia Venot
See all publications

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