The German Mineralogical Society awards the Victor Moritz Goldschmidt Prize to Dr. Christoph Burkhardt (University of Münster) in recognition of his outstanding scientific achievements and fundamental contributions to the fields of geochemistry and cosmochemistry.
Dr. Burkhardt's research spans a remarkably broad range of topics, from the nucleosynthesis of elements in stars and the dating of processes in the early Solar System to the formation and differentiation of the terrestrial planets. He has developed innovative conceptual approaches for establishing genetic relationships between meteorites and the planets. Using high-precision isotope measurements, he demonstrated that the Earth is not, as had long been assumed, primarily composed of meteorite-like material, but instead consists largely of material that formed closer to the Sun than the meteorites themselves.
This discovery has significantly improved our understanding of the dynamics of the early Solar System and has far-reaching implications for our understanding of the Earth's earliest differentiation. Previously, differences in the abundance of ¹⁴²Nd between the Earth and undifferentiated meteorites (chondrites) had been interpreted as evidence for very early melting and differentiation of the Earth. Dr. Burkhardt's work demonstrated instead that the observed ¹⁴²Nd differences are of nucleosynthetic origin, resulting from an unequal distribution of presolar dust between the material that formed the Earth and that preserved in meteorites.
Dr. Burkhardt further demonstrated that, despite these isotopic differences, the bulk chemical composition of the Earth remains essentially identical to that of chondrites. In doing so, he provided the first direct evidence for one of the fundamental but previously unverified assumptions of geochemistry—that the Earth's composition is chondritic for many chemical elements.
Through these pioneering studies, Dr. Burkhardt has successfully established a direct link between the origin of minute isotopic anomalies preserved in meteorites and the large-scale transport of material during the formation and chemical differentiation of the planets. By awarding this prize, the German Mineralogical Society honors Dr. Burkhardt as an exceptionally innovative and internationally recognized young scientist.
Rimini, 14 September 2016