| Welcome to my humble abode |  Always lost in thought Image credit: N. Escanlar |
| Short
Curriculum Vitae (ERC Style) LinkedIn profile | |
| Publications (i.e. what I have contributed to make the world a better place) This NASA ADS link can be used to perform metrics on my publications. Here are the basics for the metrics bean counters: Current number of refereed publications = 99 (43 as first author), H=33 (source: NASA ADS). |
My main research interest is the formation, history and dynamical evolution of the Solar System, coupled with understanding why
Earth developed a biosphere (and when) and Venus and Mars probably did not. Specifically, I am interested in the following topics.
Terrestrial and exoplanet formation
Planetary bombardment
Fusion of cosmochemistry and dynamics
Isotopic composition of rocky planets
Planetary habitability on long time scales
Delivery of biogenic materials
Tidal evolution of planets and satellites
Time and place of the origin of life
Divergence of Venus and Mars vs. Earth
GPU computing
Extinction events
So far I have made the following discoveries in my scientific career. Most of these are co-discoveries with colleagues.
1. Contrary to popular opinion, Mars likely formed in the asteroid belt.
2. The Earth's Late Veneer must have consisted of a single large impact rather than an assumed constant stream of planetesimals.
3. Mars must have suffered a colossal impact in order to explain its highly siderophile element abundance. Both Earth and Mars underwent such impacts at ca. 4480 Ma.
4. Jupiter must have scattered/ejected another giant planet of the same size as Uranus or Neptune otherwise the orbits of the terrestrial planets would be far too eccentric.
5. The Jupiter-Family comets and the Long-Period comets share the same origin. Both the Oort comet cloud and Scattered Disc populations can be explained from a single population that was stirred during an episode of giant planet migration.
6. The Sun's birth cluster is likely responsible for placing dwarf planet Sedna on its current orbit.
Students
Apart from doing research I enjoy supervising my students. I supervised some of them while I was based at ELSI. I continue(d) to supervise two of them remotely from Budapest.
Master:
Emily Wong, came from the University of Hong Kong. Graduated 2021.
Anuja Raorane, Indian Institue of Science Education and Research, Pune. Graduated 2023.
Mitchell Yzer, University of Amsterdam. Graduated 2024.
Doctoral:
Jason Woo, came from the University of Hong Kong. Graduated 2019.
Jingyi Mah, came from the University of Hong Kong. Graduated 2021.
Emily Wong, continued from Tokyo Institute of Technology. Graduated 2024.
Petra Hatalova, continued at the University of Oslo.
Other interests
One thing that I find fascinating - but do not actively research - is the 'objectivity' of peer review for publications and funding agencies, how scientific success is measured and how the metrics constructed to measure this success stand up to scrutiny (think of the H-index), the opaqueness of faculty hiring and how early career success(es) multiply and set one on a fast track to a tenured position and acquiring funding (the so-called Matthew effect). I have a list of publications here. This should be mandatory reading for all young scientists!
Last update: Some time in the past