Fireballs in the sky: how meteorites shaped our planet

Guest Speaker

Thursday, 23rd July 2026 (19:45 - 22:00)

Venue: Hybrid

This lecture describes the wonder of meteorites – where they come from, what happens when they land (often with a bang!) and how they can help answer the biggest questions in science including the origins of life on Earth, and chances of finding life on other planets. The focus will be on carbonaceous chondrites, which come from asteroids that were born in the cold and dark outer reaches of the solar system. It has been an exciting time to study them – a carbonaceous chondrite landed in Gloucestershire in 2021, and two carbonaceous chondrite asteroids have recently been visited by space missions. Some of the fascinating results from research on these samples will be described.

Join online if you can't meet us at the meeting room HERE

Speaker: Martin R Lee

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.