In August 2021 we continue digitally with fresh coffee and very exciting research! The Museum für Naturkunde Berlin once again invites you to the Digital Science Communication Cafe. This month in German. Get ready to get exciting insights from scientists into their work while drinking coffee in front of the screens in a relaxed atmosphere. Everyone is invited to ask questions and contribute to the conversation.
This time, the guest is Dr Christopher Hamann, Research Associate in the Impact and Meteorite Research Department. He is also head of the Electron Beam Microprobe Analysis and Scanning Electron Microscopy (Earth Sciences) laboratories, as well as Geo.X Coordinator at the Museum für Naturkunde. Since his Master's thesis, Christopher has been researching physico-chemical and geological-mineralogical processes that occur during cosmic collisions, i.e. the impacts of asteroids on planetary surfaces. He bases his research on sample material from real impact craters and meteorites as well as on laboratory experiments with which he recreates the formation of craters and the extremely high pressures and temperatures that occur during them.
How do we actually know how the solar system and the planets were formed? What does it look like inside planets? Are there the same rocks on the Moon, Mars or in the asteroid belt as on Earth? Were there other planets in our solar system besides the ones we know today? And what actually happens when an asteroid or comet hits the Earth's surface? Sure, it creates a crater, but can that have major consequences for the environment and life on Earth? Christopher is investigating all these and other questions at the Museum für Naturkunde in the department Solar System, Impacts and Meteorites. To be more precise, he deals with the history of the formation of our solar system and the Earth-like planets and minor planets (asteroids), and that's exactly what he'll be talking about with us in the next Digital Science Communication Cafe.
Event information
- Topic: How was our solar system formed and what happens when asteroids hit planetary surfaces?
- with Dr. Christopher Hamann, geoscientist and staff member of the Impact and Meteorite Research Department at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin
- Moderation: Franziska Sattler
- Participation via Zoom and YouTube
- Following the event, we would be pleased if you would take part in our short group evaluation in the Zoom meeting.
- Event in German
Related links
- Information about the Experimental Field
- An overview of other digital offers can be found here: For Nature digital