National Centre of Competence in Research PlanetS
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Thompson Maggie, Dr.

ETH Zürich, Inst. f. Geochemie und Petrologie, Phase 3 - Domain C - Project 6
Post Doc
8092 Zürich
Please give us a personal quote or a quote of a famous person (e.g. of Albert Einstein) that describes you and your life/work.
“The universe is a pretty big place. If it’s just us, seems like an awful waste of space.” Contact, Carl Sagan
Please describe your job in only one sentence and tell us what the most important goal of this work is.
I use laboratory experiments and modeling tools to determine the connection between the interiors and atmospheres of rocky planets within and beyond our Solar System which will inform our understanding of their compositional diversity and habitability potential.
How did you get into this research/work field?
I had several inspiring physics and chemistry teachers in high school that sparked my early interest in astronomy and planetary science. For my current research specifically, my PhD work on meteorite outgassing and biosignatures led me to understand both the importance of and need for more work on tracing volatile elements across a rocky planet’s different reservoirs.
What would be the greatest discovery you would like to see in your life time?
Discovery of a rocky exoplanet that hosts life.
You work for the NCCR PlanetS. What do you think will the NCCR enable you to do you couldn’t do without it?
PlanetS will provide lots of great collaborations across various subfields (e.g., geochemistry, astrophysics, planetary science, biology) which is essential for this kind of interdisciplinary research.

 

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