Welcome to the Origins Research Institute (ORI), Budapest

We are part of the Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences (CSFK)
Konkoly Observatory

H-1121 Budapest
Konkoly Thege Miklós út 15-17
mobile: +36 30 893 7508
main office: +36 1 391 9320, +36 1 391 9322


visitor number:

NEWS

--> various press reports on our research activities

The Ida Pfeiffer Visiting Professorship at the University of Vienna.

On the 60th anniversary of the "Drake Equation" (in Hungarian).

How the compositional dichotomy of the inner- vs. outer-solar system could have arisen from ALMA-disk like structures.

Exploring other Earths (elaborations on the geophysical nature of terrestrial-type exoplanets) - Nature 552, 20-22 (2017) doi: 10.1038/d41586-017-07844-y.

Hayabusa2 asteroid mission (commentary on recent results and interpretations of data returned from Asteroid Ryugu)- Science 363, 16-14 (2019) doi: 10.1126/science.363.6422.16.

Seeing the dawn (new directions in pre-biotic chemistry research driven by planetary geology) - Science 363, 116-119 (2019) doi: 10.1126/science.363.6423.116.

Planetary News - recent modeling work that shows the resurfacing of Mercury -

Late accretion on Mars could have contributed to the emergence of life on the Red Planet

RECENT PUBLISHED WORK:

Onset of Giant Planet Migration before 4480 Million Years Ago Here, we attempt to resolve the problem of the nature and timing of bomabardment in the early solar system - and what this means for the origin of life.

Mn-biogeochemistry of the Urucum ore deposit (Brazil) How do unusual Mn-ore bodies such as those at Urucum (Brazil) and Urkut (Hungary) form?

When did life likely emerge on Earth in an RNA-first process? We explore the timing of an RNA World in the context of the early geo- and cosmo-chemical evolution of Earth.

Impact bombardment chronology of the terrestrial planets from 4.5 Ga to 3.5 Ga We present new estimates of the amount of cometary material striking the terrestrial planets in an early (ca. 4480 Ma) episode of planetesimal-driven giant planet migration as described in Mojzsis et al., 2019.

The partitioning of the inner and outer Solar System by a structured protoplanetary disk Our young Solar System’s protoplanetary disk developed at least one and probably multiple rings, which potentially triggered the formation of the giant planets.

Geochemical and textural investigations of the Eoarchean Ukaliq supracrustals, Northern Québec (Canada) The evolution of the Ukaliq supracrustal rocks are described in the context of the entire Inukjuak domain and the general the Hadean environment.

Widespread poly-metamorphosed Archean granitoid gneisses and supracrustal enclaves of the southern Inukjuak Domain, Québec (Canada) The discovery of many more pre-3700 Ma Eoarchean rocks beyond the Nuvvuagittuq outcrops calls attention to the existence of hitherto unidentified butwidespread scattered occurrences of Eoarchean and Paleoarchean rocks throughout the region.

Tracing the Early Emergence of Microbial Sulfur Metabolisms We attempt to explain why elemental sulfur aerosols were apparently not utilized by the Eoarchean (pre-3.65 Ga) biosphere even though an immediate precursor to the required enzyme may have already been present.

Supply of phosphate to early Earth by photogeochemistry after meteoritic weathering Our experimental findings provide a cosmochemically and geochemically plausible means for supply of phosphate that was widely available to prebiotic chemistry and nascent life on early Earth and potentially on other planets.

Europium as a lodestar: diagnosis of radiogenic heat production in terrestrial exoplanets We draw attention to the refractory, r-process element europium, which may be used as a convenient and practical proxy for the population analysis of radiogenic heating in exoplanetary systems.

• Associated Researchers
  
  
  • Dr. Nigel Kelly - Bruker Analytics (email)
  
  
  • Our Distinguished Alumni
    
    • Jennika Greer (B.A. MAGNA CUM LAUDE/M.A. in Geology, now an NSF graduate fellow and Ph.D. student, University of Chicago, Department of Geophysical Sciences) (email)
    
    
    • Nicole Cates (Ph.D. in Geology; Research Faculty, University of Manitoba) (email)
    
    
    • Dr. Michelle Hopkins-Wilelicki (Ph.D. in Geology; Staff Associate, University of Alabama) (email)
    
    
    • Dr. Elizabeth Frank (Ph.D. in Geology; Applied Planetary Scientist at Synchronous, Seattle, Washington) (email)
    
    
    • Dr. Oleg Abramov (former NAI NPP; Senior Scientist, Planetary Science Institute; Member of CRiO) (email)
    
    
    • Dr. Dominic Papineau (Ph.D. in Geology; Lecturer in geochemistry and astrobiology, University College London (UK)
    
    
    • Prof. Dustin Trail (M.A. in Geology; Assistant Professor, University of Rochester; Member of CRiO)
    
    
    • Prof. Elizabeth Swanner-Smith (Ph.D. in Geology; Assistant Professor, Iowa State University) (email)
    
    
    • Michael Gross B.Sc. undergraduate in Geology, now working with Prof. Julio Sepulveda (email)
    
    
    • Jon Adam M.Ed. in Science Education (Boulder Valley School District)
    
    
    • Steven Glaser M.Sc. in Geological Sciences (graduated Fall 2010; now Ph.D. student with E. Shock at ASU)
    
    
    • Laurie Carmack B.A. in Anthropology (M.Ed. student at University of Oregon)
    
    
    • Allison Schaiberger B.Sc. student in Geology (now a graduate student at the Colorado School of Mines)
    
    
    • Heather Sickels B.Sc. in Geology (freelance writer in Boulder, Colorado)
    
    
    • Kelsi Singer B.Sc. (honors) in Astrophysics/Archeaology/Geology; Ph.D. Washington University - St. Louis (now a posdoctoral researcher at the Southwest Research Institute, Boulder)
    
    
    • Nick Strohecker B.Sc. in Accounting, Minor in Geology (Robert Half International)
    
    
    • John Braswell B.Sc. in Geological Sciences at University of Michigan (2009 UNAVCO Summer Intern)
    
    
    • Diana Prado B.Sc. in Geological Sciences at University of Puerto Rico (2010 UNAVCO Summer Intern; now at Ferrovial Agroman S.A.)
    
    
    • Sarah Palaich (Ph.D. from UCLA, now back in Colorado doing Science Education)
    
    
    • Analisa Maier B.Sc., M.Sc. in Geological Sciences at University of Colorado (Staff Geologist, Apache Corporation, Midland, TX)
    
    
    • Ethan Putnam former high school honors student working in our lab, now at Dartmouth College(email)
    
    
    • Nick Warren B.A. CUM LAUDE in Geology (email)
    
    
    • Wilder Lavington B.Sc. undergraduate in Chemistry/Computer Science (email)
    
    
    • Cole Pazar B.Sc. undergraduate in Geology (now at Innovative Energy, Chegg Inc.) (email)
    
    
    • Jonathan Oulton (B.Sc. Geology, FSU), M.Sc. in Geological Sciences at the University of Colorado, now at Scarpa (email)
    
    
    • Jeff Jennings - (B.A. Physics, CU), M.Sc. in Astrophysics at LMU-Munich, Germany (email)