Prof. Benjamin P Weiss

Professor Weiss is interested in the formation, evolution, and history of the terrestrial planets and small bodies, with particular interests in paleomagnetism and geomagnetism, planetary geophysics, meteoritics, and planetary paleoclimate and habitability. He studies meteorites and samples from extraterrestrial bodies to understand the history of these planetary geophysical and geochemical processes. He joined the MIT faculty in 2004.

Key Research Discoveries: (a) Demonstrated that the Moon generated a long-lived core dynamo; (b) demonstrated the existence of a nebular magnetic field like that predicted to have played a central role in planet formation; (c) discovered that some asteroids generated core dynamos; (d) developed magnetic microscopy as a new tool for paleomagnetism; (e) provided evidence for the existence of the ancient Martian dynamo; (f) found that some meteorites were not heat-sterilized during their
transfer from Mars to Earth.