the interstellar medium. She has been the scientific director of the Netherlands Research School for Astronomy (NOVA) since 2007. Research Van Dishoeck works on interstellar molecules; physical and chemical evolution during star formation and planet formation; submillimeter and mid-infrared astronomy; basic molecular processes; and the radiative transfer of line and continuum radiation. In 2021 she was awarded an ERC Advanced Grant to study chemistry and physics in the planet-forming disks around stars other than our Sun. She is the most cited molecular astrophysicist in the world. Impact Ewine van Dishoeck’s work on astrochemistry was instrumental in answering how interstellar gas and dust can transform into living organisms. Life is dependent on carbon, and space has an abundance of this in the form of carbon monoxide. However, carbon monoxide could be broken up by ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Because of stars in the galaxy, UV light was abundant to break up the carbon monoxide. At her PhD studies, no one was aware of how some carbon monoxide molecules could remain alive in space. In her lab research, van Dishoeck set up interstellar cloud models; she compared her tests against actual observations. She concluded that carbon monoxide is not vulnerable to all UV light through her trials. It is only susceptible to the wavelengths that it can absorb. As completed by her and John Black, dust and other molecules can block UV light, leading to carbon monoxide protection. Her findings answered why some carbon monoxide molecules were able to survive long enough to contribute to living organisms. Awards Van Dishoeck was a Junior Fellow of the Harvard Society of Fellows in 1984, where she worked with Alex Dalgarno. She was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Netherlands Chemical Society in 1994, the Spinoza Prize (Netherlands) in 2000, and the Bourke Award of the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK) in 2001. Since 2001, she is a Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences as well of the United States National Academy of Sciences. In 2013, she became a member of the Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. She received the Gothenburg Lise Meitner Award (Sweden) in 2014, and the Albert Einstein World Award of Science (Mexico) in 2015. In 2018, Van Dishoeck was awarded the James Craig Watson Medal (US) and the Kavli Prize (Norway) for astrophysics. In the same year, she also has been elected an Honorary Member of the Royal