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5th Meeting of the 204th Session (2024-2025)

Meteorites and the origins of Earth’s oceans

Prof Martin R Lee

Professor Martin R. Lee

Professor Martin R. Lee
University of Glasgow

On Monday 24th February 2025, at 7pm

Did the ingredients for life on Earth come from outer space? Many planetary scientists believe that meteorites rich in water and organic matter seeded the early Earth with bioessential compounds, making the oceans and creating conditions needed for the evolution of life. In this lecture I will describe results of current research on these space rocks including insights from the recent missions by NASA and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to collect samples of primitive water-rich asteroids, and the fall of the Winchcombe meteorite in 2021, which was a pivotal event for UK planetary science.

Martin Lee is Professor of Planetary Science in the School of Geographical and Earth Sciences, University of Glasgow. He is a geologist by training, having studied at the Universities of Leicester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Essex, and Edinburgh before joining Glasgow in 2000. The focus of his work is on exploring the early history of the solar system through studying meteorites and samples returned from asteroids using high-resolution analytical techniques including transmission electron microscopy and atom probe tomography. Asteroid 8152 Martinlee (1986 VY) is named in his honour.