Earth
and Planetary Science
Sustaining Innovation through Advanced Instrumentation
Carnegie’s
Geophysical Laboratory and Department of Terrestrial Magnetism
are known for their roles in developing powerful and sophisticated
scientific instruments that are now widely used tools for scientific
research. The Earth and Planetary Science Fund of the new Campaign
help will ensure that role for the new century.
The Geophysical Laboratory’s early work in petrology has led
to a wide range of scientific investigations, none of which could
have beenanticipated when the department was founded in 1905. Today,
the Geophysical Laboratory is a leader in the field of high pressure
and high temperature research, having pioneered many of the laboratory
methods and advanced instruments
– including the diamond-anvil cell and its use in conjunction
with synchrotron beamlines – now widely used by all high pressure
scientists. As a result of this work, unsuspected phenomena of fundamental,
condensed matter have been discovered and are being applied to problems
concerning the interior of the Earth and other planets, opening up
new horizons for research in the physical sciences.
Of the six Carnegie Departments, the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism
(DTM) has evolved the furthest from its earliest scientific purpose –
to survey the globe measuring the Earth’s magnetic fields.
Today, DTM scientists investigate the Earth’s thermodynamic
processes, seeking to understand how the Earth transports heat and
magma from its deep interior to the ever-moving tectonic plates and
volcanic centers concentrated near plate boundaries. Other scientists
in the department study the formation and structure of our solar
system and play a leading role in the discovery and understanding
of other solar systems and their planets. Still other DTM scientists
are concerned with how stars and galaxies are formed and the impacts
they have when they reach the end of their lives.
New analytical techniques and advanced instrumentation shared by
the two departments are yielding unanticipated discoveries and original
and highly productive joint research projects.
Scientists in both departments are studying the biochemistry of extreme
conditions found at high-pressure hydrothermal vents and hot springs,
while others are exploring how minerals of the early Earth may have
acted as catalysts for the production of biologically important molecules.
An important goal of this work is to define and understand how to
recognize bio-markers – the molecular and isotopic signatures
that indicate the presence of life, both on Earth and on other planets.
The future research programs of both the Department of Terrestrial
Magnetism and the Geophysical Lab will be enhanced by assuring that
their laboratories continue to be among the best equipped in the
world. A total of $8.4 million ($4.2 million for each department)
can be leveraged to more than $16 million in the next decade.
We
are also making more space available for the increasing numbers
of scientists and postdoctoral fellows who are attracted by the
high-quality research in the two departments. We are therefore
renovating the old and under-utilized Experiment Building, the
only building on campus not renovated within the last decade. Renovation
of the Experiment Building, which has been named in honor of former
trustee David Greenewalt, will cost $2.7 million.
The total campaign goal for the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism
and the Geophysical Laboratory is therefore $11 million.
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