Quick-Fire Questions with Tim Lichtenberg
Alexandra Lehtmets, Peter Mc Ardle, Prasanna Deshapriya, Prateek Tripathi and Hans Huybrighs of the Europlanet Early Careers (EPEC) Future Research Working Group interview the Europlanet Early Career Medal Winner, Tim Lichtenberg.
Read article in the fully formatted PDF of the Europlanet Magazine.
What role does interdisciplinarity play in your career?
I consider my own work to be highly interdisciplinary. I focus on developing our understanding of how the initially uninhabitable conditions of a planet change to become more habitable. By observing exoplanets, we can fill the gaps in our current knowledge of the formation process, which is primarily based on our own Solar System. We now have detected so many exoplanets that we can sample all the stages of planetary formation and test our models.
Few funding bodies are truly dedicated to supporting interdisciplinary science. That’s why foundations like the Branco Weiss Fellowship are so valuable – they offer researchers the freedom to pursue their questions without strict disciplinary constraints. This flexibility has been key in shaping the research group I’m building today.
How are recent advances in exoplanetary science influencing planetary science?
Many exoplanets exist in states unlike anything observed locally. Their diversity in composition, climate and chemistry forces us to re-evaluate models originally built to describe only our own Solar System planets. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a major breakthrough. For the first time, we can obtain high-quality spectra from medium-sized exoplanets. These unusual structures reveal different physics and chemistry than we see on familiar terrestrial planets. Importantly, some of these distant worlds might reflect earlier phases of planetary evolution in the Solar System that are no longer observable. By studying them, we can piece together how early atmospheres formed and evolved.
Exoplanet science bridges multiple disciplines. How do you integrate this into your work?
There is a strong synergy between Solar System science, e.g. sample return missions, and exoplanetary science. We are trying to answer similar questions, but with different datasets. One method on its own will not answer all the questions, so these approaches are complementary. However, we do need to work closer together and not be siloed. What are the biggest open questions about the conditions that led to life on early Earth? We don’t fully understand how the Earth transitioned from a molten magma ocean to a solid planet, nor how early surface environments and atmospheric chemistry evolved to support life. That’s where exoplanet science becomes invaluable. These exo-worlds may not mirror Earth exactly, but studying how they evolve from molten beginnings to potentially habitable environments can reveal fundamental processes that likely played a role in life’s emergence here.
What advice would you give early career researchers interested in exoplanet science?
Knowing how little we truly understand leaves space for creativity and progress, which I think is encouraging for any earlycareer scientist interested in these questions. I think what we urgently need is a better understanding of how all these processes — physics, chemistry and interdisciplinary expertise — work together on a planetary scale. Habitability is a diffuse target, so starting your career by focusing on one subproblem, even if it’s seemingly not at the centre, can be valuable. Working on core aspects and engaging with others interested in similar questions can help uncover opportunities for collaboration and enable truly interdisciplinary projects.
How do you think exoplanet science can inspire the next generation?
I became a researcher because, as a teenager, I read a lot of popular science books and realised how fascinating science is — not just the dry, sometimes uninspiring version we often encounter in school. So yes, inspiring the next generation of scientists through communication is essential.
Do you have any advice about doing research in today’s chaotic world?
Sometimes I have the impression that everything goes to pieces in the current political climate and that people are not sure if they should put effort into something. I do think the work we are all doing is giving us something to work for: something bigger than us, something inspirational, something important, the big picture. This can help you enrich your life and focus on something else to think about and contribute towards.
This article is an edited version of an extended interview with Tim Lichtenberg by the Europlanet Future Research Group. Read the full interview.
