Using science and technology to explore the Earth

To understand the bigger picture, Dr. Oliver Plümper focuses on very small things: the geoscientist studies minerals that are components of rocks. But what stories do these components tell – and how do they help us understand the secrets of our planet Earth? To find this out, Plümper relies on engineering and technology: microscopes – and artificial intelligence.

Plümper very clearly remembers the moment of decisive change in his professional life. It was in the mid-2000s while studying geosciences at the University of Münster. “When I saw atoms under a microscope for the first time, these tiniest particles that determine the big picture of planet Earth,” he says, “something just clicked. That’s when I realized: this is the field I want to work in.”

Learn about Dr. Oliver Plümper’s studies using AI in geoscience here.