Prof. Don Dingwell – from LMU Munich – talked about research on space-sourced building materials. The world expert in geomaterials was a guest at the Interdisciplinary Scientific Seminar at Wrocław Tech.

His lecture entitled "From experimental geoscience to lunar geoengineering" was given on 17 March in the Congress Centre of the Wrocław Tech.

– Now we stand on the threshold of a new challenge – the engineering of the lunar, and eventually, the Martian surface. Tremendous multiple research goals await us including the generation of water, oxygen, 3He and structural building materials on the moon, all using local materials. The expertise from decades of high temperature manipulation of melted rocks in order to understand volcanoes is a near-ideal preparation for this task – says prof. Dingwell

He is a professor emeritus of Mineralogy and Petrology at LMU Munich, and Director - Earth and Environment (to 10/2024). He has ca. 600 papers on geomaterials. His approach is fundamentally experimental and materials-based. He holds 12 scientific awards, 8 academy memberships, 6 honorary degrees and 3 national orders. He was President of the European Geoscience Union and the IAVCEI. He was Secretary-General of the European Research Council. He is currently President of the Academia Europaea.