# Pavel Machalek

> Pavel Machalek is a Czech astrophysicist and entrepreneur based in San Francisco. After doctoral research at Johns Hopkins and work on NASA’s Kepler mission, he worked in remote sensing at The Climate Corporation and co-founded SpaceKnow, serving as its early CEO. He is also a co-founder of Spartacus and the founder and CEO of Eternity.Photos, which preserves personal photographs on archival film in underground vaults.

- **Role:** Founder & CEO at Eternity.Photos; Co-Founder and former CEO of SpaceKnow Inc.
- **Organizations:** Eternity.Photos, SpaceKnow Inc., Spartacus, The Climate Corporation, NASA Ames Research Center, Space Telescope Science Institute
- **Nationality:** Czech
- **Education:** International Baccalaureate, English College in Prague, Bachelor’s degree in astronomy, University College London, PhD in astrophysics, Johns Hopkins University
- **Known for:** First-authored peer-reviewed exoplanet thermal-emission studies using Spitzer observations., Worked on Kepler photometry and data quality; co-edited Kepler Data Release 9 Notes., Co-founded SpaceKnow, whose economic indexes were distributed through Bloomberg terminals.

## Career timeline

- **2000** — Graduated from the English College in Prague.
- **2003** — Completed undergraduate astronomy studies at University College London.
- **2004** — Began doctoral studies at Johns Hopkins after a summer internship at the Space Telescope Science Institute.
- **2008** — First author of Thermal Emission of Exoplanet XO-1b.
- **2009** — Completed doctoral research on hot-Jupiter atmospheres; joined NASA Ames to work on Kepler data.
- **2011-2013** — Worked at The Climate Corporation in data science and remote sensing.
- **2013-2014** — Co-founded SpaceKnow with Jerry Javornicky; sources date founding to 2013 and the business launch to early 2014.
- **2017** — SpaceKnow announced a $4 million Series A; Machalek was its CEO at the time.
- **2025** — Founded Eternity.Photos, according to its press biography.
- **2026** — Eternity.Photos made its inaugural deposit at the Arctic World Archive and announced its consumer archival service.

## Achievements

- First-authored peer-reviewed exoplanet thermal-emission studies using Spitzer observations.
- Worked on Kepler photometry and data quality; co-edited Kepler Data Release 9 Notes.
- Co-founded SpaceKnow, whose economic indexes were distributed through Bloomberg terminals.
- Founded Eternity.Photos, whose inaugural Arctic World Archive deposit was recorded in February 2026.

## Latest updates

- **2026-02** — Arctic World Archive recorded Eternity.Photos’ inaugural collection deposit on February 28.
- **2026-03** — Eternity.Photos announced its consumer archival-film preservation service on March 18.
- **2026-09** — Visual 1st’s 2026 program listed Machalek as Founder of Eternity Photos for a Speed Insights interview on preservation over centuries.

## Links

- Website: https://eternity.photos/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavel-machalek-0152b8269

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/pavel-machalek
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-14