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Thomas J. Bernatowicz
Pronounced: Ber-na-toe-wits

URL: http://news-info.wustl.edu/sb/page/normal/480.html

Media Assistance:

Susan Killenberg McGinn
Exec. Dir. of Danforth Campus Communications
smcginn@wustl.edu
(314) 935-5254

Professor of Physics in Arts & Sciences

Expertise: presolar grains, meteorites, isotope mass spectrometry, transmission electron microscopy, electron diffraction, electron energy loss spectrometry, energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry

Bio: Bernatowicz' research focuses on detailed laboratory observations of presolar grains (literally ancient stardust) from meteorites to draw inferences about the physical conditions in ancient circumstellar environments and about the formation of dust in the Galaxy. His research utilizes isotope mass spectrometry and transmission electron microscopy (electron diffraction, electron energy loss spectrometry and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry).

WUSTL Contact Information:
Work:(314) 935-6274
Fax:(314) 935-4083
E-mail:tom@wuphys.wustl.edu
Address:Campus Box 1105
One Brookings Drive
St. Louis, MO 63130

Education:


News Stories & Tip Sheets:

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'Everybody is a star'

Found: first silicate stardust (http://news-info.wustl.edu/tips/page/normal/791.html)

April 29, 2004 --
In the March 5 issue of Science, Ann Nguyen of Washington University in St. Louis and her advisor, Ernst K. Zinner, Ph.D., research professor of physics and of earth and planetary sciences, both in Arts & Sciences, describe nine specks of silicate stardust — presolar silicate grains — from one of the most primitive meteorites known. This is the first reported finding of silicate stardust from a meteorite.



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Additional Background: Bernatowicz has worked on a wide variety of problems in planetary geochemistry and geophysics, surface physics, and experimental nuclear physics, isotope geochemistry and astrophysics. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, and a member of the American Astronomical Society, the American Geophysical Union, and the Meteoritical Society.

He has served on a number of national committees, among them the National Research Council Associateship Program, the NASA Cosmochemistry Program Management Operations Working Group, and the National Science Foundation Meteorite Working Group.

Bernatowicz' graduate work included determination of average uranium content of lunar breccias by fission track methods; petrographic studies of lunar rocks; noble gas investigations of lunar fission Xe from the extinct isotope Pu-244; application of heavy noble gases to petrological problems, including the development of the first degassing models for the Earth using Xe isotopes.

Bernatowicz' post-graduate research has included: evaluations of the terrestrial inventory of Xe; development of techniques for using mass spectrometers to study adsorption of noble gases in very low surface coverage regimes; the study of adsorption and migration of Xe and Ar in the lunar regolith; determination of actinide element abundances in meteorites; experimental studies of the solubilities of noble gases in silicate melts; theoretical and laboratory studies of isotopic fractionation during equilibrium adsorption and very low energy ion implantation of noble gases; proof of the double beta decay of Te-128 and measurement of its half-life (8 x 10^24 yr - the longest half-life ever determined experimentally); determination of a strict upper limit on the Majorana mass of the electron neutrino (< 1.5 eV) from experimental double beta decay lifetimes of Te-128 and Te-130.

Some of his contemporary publications on the topic of the laboratory study of ancient stardust include:
Bernatowicz T., Cowsik R., Gibbons P., Lodders K., Fegley B., Amari S. and Lewis R. (1996) Constraints on stellar grain formation from presolar graphite in the Murchison meteorite. Astrophys. J. 472, 760-782.

Daulton T., Eisenhour D., Bernatowicz T., Lewis R. and Buseck P. (1996) Genesis of presolar diamonds: Comparative high-resolution transmission electron microscopy study of meteoritic and terrestrial nano-diamonds. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 60, 4853-4872.

Bernatowicz T. J. and Walker R. M. (1997) Ancient stardust in the Laboratory. Physics Today, 50 No. 12, 26-32.

Bernatowicz T. and Zinner E. (1997), eds., Astrophysical Implications of the Laboratory Study of Presolar Materials, AIP Conference Proceedings 402, New York.

Bernatowicz T., Amari S., Messenger S., and Lewis R. (1998) Internal structure and composition of presolar graphites from supernovae. Lunar Planet Sci. XXIX, Abstract #1393, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston (CD_ROM).

Bernatowicz T., Bradley J., Amari S., Messenger S., and Lewis R. (1999) New kinds of massive star condensates in a presolar graphite from Murchison. Lunar Planet Sci. XXX, Abstract #1392, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston (CD_ROM).

Bernatowicz T., Swan P, Messenger S., Walker R. and Amari S. (2000) Comparative morphology of pristine and chemical dissolution presolar SiC from Murchison. Lunar Planet Sci. XXXI, Abstract #1238, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston (CD_ROM).

Bernatowicz T., Pravdivtseva O., Messenger S., Swan P. (2001) Pristine Presolar Silicon Carbide from Murchison. Meteoritics & Planet. Sci. 36, A20.

Croat T. K., Bernatowicz T., Stadermann F. J., S. Messenger S., and Amari S. (2002a) Coordinated isotopic and TEM studies of a supernova graphite. Lunar Planet Sci. XXXIII, Abstract # 1315, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston (CD_ROM).

Daulton T. L., Bernatowicz T. J., Lewis R. S., Messenger S., Stadermann F. J., and Amari S. (2002b) Polytype distribution in circumstellar silicon carbide. Science 296, 1852-1855.


Related Information


Related Links:
•Department of Physics Web page (http://www.physics.wustl.edu/)
•Laboratory for Space Sciences Web page (http://presolar.wustl.edu/)
•McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences Web page (http://mcss.wustl.edu/)

Related Groups: