ERC Starting Grant for Tim Lichtenberg

Dr. Tim Lichtenberg of the Kapteyn Astronomical Insitute has been awarded an European Research Council's (ERC) Starting Grant. The ERC Starting Grant amounts to €1.5 million, for a period of five years. ERC Starting Grants are intended for outstanding researchers with the aim of stimulating cutting-edge research in Europe.

MagmaWorlds - Tracing the chemical evolution of super-Earth exoplanets

Recent discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope are transforming our understanding of exoplanets. The data reveals that what happens deep inside a planet can significantly change the composition of its atmosphere, which is what our telescopes observe.

To understand the link between the deep interior and atmosphere, MagmaWorlds will develop advanced computer models to simulate the entire life story of these exoplanets over billions of years. Connecting recent advances from the fields of geophysics, geochemistry, climate science and exoplanet astronomy, MagmaWorlds will distinguish how volatile-rich panets, so-called water worlds, and rocky super-Earth originate and evolve. This will not only shape our understanding of these distant worlds, but enable us to peak into the extreme thermodynamic conditions that shaped the birth of our home planet Earth.

About the ERC

The ERC aims to encourage promising young researchers in Europe to set up a research team and launch an independent research project to enable groundbreaking research. An ERC grant allows researchers to start their research project confidently.

Apart from Tim Lichtenberg, four other UG researches have been awarded an ERC Starting Grant.