RAS Women Fellows - Inspiring Science Stories - Olivia Harper Wilkins @RasOrgUk

RAS Women Fellows - Inspiring Science Stories - Olivia Harper Wilkins @RasOrgUk

Uploaded February 2022 | Updated September 2026, 10 hours ago

FRIDAY - 18 February 2022 at 12pm

Dr Olivia Wilkins - NASA Goddard - Interstellar Ice

Title: Daring to Be Unqualified

About the speaker:

Olivia Harper Wilkins is an astrochemist, artist, and NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) Fellow at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, where she does experimental work to understand interstellar ice chemistry. She earned her Ph.D. from Caltech (Pasadena, California, USA) in December 2021 after focusing on observational astronomy during her thesis work. Olivia also holds a B.S. in Chemistry and Mathematics from Dickinson College (Carlisle, Pennsylvania, USA). She enjoys communicating about science and uses art to help share the wonders of space and science more broadly. She recently published Astrochemistry with the American Chemical Society; in addition to writing the book, she created many of the illustrations. Olivia also enjoys coffee shops and traveling with her husband and their son.

Graphic credit: Gurjeet Kahlon, RAS Communications Officer

RAS Women Fellows - Inspiring Science Stories - Olivia Harper Wilkins

RAS Ordinary Meeting - March 2023

Our Observable World: The Resonance of Astronomer Henrietta Leavitt’s Life and Work at 1pm

$Sources and inventory of cosmic dust: From space to the Earth’s surface 11 Feb 2022 - SDM Cosmic dust represents the largest contribution to the flux of extraterrestrial matter reaching the Earth’s surface every year, with tens of thousands of tons compared to tens of tons for meteorites. Cosmic dust includes Interplanetary Dust Particles, which range from a few micrometres to about 50 micrometres in size and are usually recovered directly from the atmosphere, and micrometeorites, which range from a few tens of micrometres to 2 millimetres and are mainly sampled at ground level. Over the last few decades, research groups have specialized in the study of micrometeorites, aiming to constrain the nature and origin of micrometeorites and their flux. To achieve this, micrometeorites have been sampled from a variety of environments, from direct sampling in the air to the glacially eroded top of nunataks in Antarctica. More recently, micrometeorite collections were successfully established after sampling roofs and gutters in urban areas, greatly expanding potential sampling sites. Important questions pertaining to the nature and flux of micrometeorites still need to be answered, such as how representative of the flux are the various micrometeorite collections established so far; the contribution of cometary versus asteroidal matter in micrometeorite collections; the provenance of abnormal micrometeorites and their relationship to other extraterrestrial materials; the link between micrometeorites and meteorites and material from return missions to asteroids. During this meeting, we aim to review the current state of new and existing micrometeorite collections and to establish a big picture of the current research being conducted on micrometeorites, and by extension cosmic dust. We also invite discussion of the following topics (but not limited to): introduction of new collections; statistical studies to determine the flux, be it modern or past; geochemistry of micrometeorites to characterize parentage with other extraterrestrial material like meteorites or comets. Dr. Matthias van Ginneken (University of Kent) Dr. Martin D. Suttle (NHM) Dr. Penny Wozniakiewicz (University of Kent) Dr. Matthew J. Genge (Imperial College) Video timings: 00:00:00 Accretion rate of Antarctic micrometeorites stored in surface snow near Dome Fuji Station - Takaaki Noguchi, Kyoto University, Japan 00:15:15 The micrometeorite flux at Dome C (Antarctica) - Julien Rojas, IJCLab, CNRS/Université Paris-Saclay, France 00:30:42 The Extraterrestrial Dust Flux: Size Distribution and Global Mass Input inferred from the Transantarctic Mountains Micrometeorite Collection - Luigi Folco, University of Pisa, Italy 00:46:20 Investigating the origin of the 16O-poor group – perspectives from large unmelted micrometeorites - Martin Suttle, Open University, U.K. 01:01:10 A potential origin for 16O-poor cosmic spherules: a near-Earth source and parentage with CY chondrites - Matthias van Ginneken, University of Kent, U.K. 01:15:09 Hot desert micrometeorites: concentration, preservation and relation with surface ages - Jérôme Gattacceca, CEREGE, France 01:30:06 The Concordia micrometeorite collection, recent results and future curation at MNHN - Jean Duprat, IMPMC, CNRS/MNHN/Sorbonne-Université, France 01:45:09 Building a collection for the future: Potential insights from the NHM’s Micrometeorites Collection - Gerallt E. Hughes, Natural History Museum London, U.K. 02:00:34 Poster session: - Sarah Roberts, Swansea University, U.K. Stardust Hunters - Steven Goderis, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium Resolving mass-dependent isotope fractionation processes in glassy cosmic spherules from the Sør Rondane Mountains, East Antarctica - Flore Van Maldeghem, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium Exploring the potential of (sedimentary) micrometeorite traps in the Arctic 02:43:40 Understanding Olivine and Pyroxene in Chondritic IDPs - Michael Zolensky, ARES, NASA Johnson Space Center, USA 02:57:04 isotope study of cometary dust - Daisuke Nakashima, Tohoku University, Japan 03:10:51 3He flux obtained from South Pole cosmic dust and its implications - Susan Taylor, Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, USA 03:27:53 Organic and minerals phases in ultracarbonaceous Antarctic Micrometeorites (UCAMMs) - Cecile Engrand, IJCLab, Univ. Paris-Saclay/CNRS, France 03:45:40 Project Stardust: The Search for Micrometeorites on the Oregon Coast - William D. Lilley, State University of New York at Potsdam, USA 03:56:57 Personal collection of Urban micrometeorites - Scott Peterson, USA$

Ordinary Meeting - November 2021

First results from the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array

Education and disruption: outreach, telescopes, tinkering and gumption

Dr Nic Bonne - The Tactile Universe

Mars Opposition - December 2022

Earth versus Sun: a precarious relationship in space - Dr Jenny Carter

Songs from the Cosmos: Sound and Vision Using Muons | David Mahon & Lomond Campbell

How Do Massive Stars Live and Die? at 1PM

Royal Astronomical Society |

RAS Women Fellows - Inspiring Science Stories - Olivia Harper Wilkins