German Research Foundation supports Münster University scientists / focus on origins of the solar system Münster (upm),

Mo, 09 Jan 2012

Good news for Münster's planetologists: the German Research Foundation (DFG) is providing more than € 800,000 of funding over two years for scientists at Münster University to support them in their research into meteorites. The recipients are not only Prof. Addi Bischoff and Dr. Knut Metzler from the Institute of Planetology's "Cosmic Mineralogy" working group, who will be receiving over half a million euros of funding, but also Prof. Thorsten Kleine, from the same Institute, and Prof. Erik Scherer, Prof. Andrew Putnis and Dr. Christian Vollmer from the Institute of Mineralogy.

The projects are being carried as part of the DFG Priority Programme "The First Ten Million Years of the Solar System", in which scientists are researching into - among other things - the origins of the first solid components of the solar system, the growth of small planets and the development of the first meteorite mother bodies. In their work the Münster researchers can largely fall back on their own meteorite samples. Comprising around 3,800 different items, the collection held by the Institute of Planetology is one of the most comprehensive in the world. Other parties involved in the DFG Priority Programme include collaboration partners from Berne (Switzerland), Nancy (France), Stockholm (Sweden) and Bangalore (India).

"This funding is tremendous news," says Addi Bischoff, "and it will especially benefit undergraduates and PhD students. This financial support from the DFG will, he says, enable them to use analytical equipment at other research institutes as well as attend conferences both at home and abroad.

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• Funding for meteorite research