Interview with Dr. Dan Bower

Q. What is your research focus?

A. My research focus is understanding the physical and chemical processes that shape rocky planets. This is everything from how they form during planetary accretion, but in particular, how they then evolve, especially how the interior interacts with the atmosphere and what atmospheres we might expect for rocky planets.

Q. What sparked your journey into this specific topic?

A. I started as a trained geoscientist, and I became interested in how Earth evolved from its early state to the planet we see today. That naturally led me to magma oceans, because planets often begin as molten bodies.

At the same time, the exoplanet field was growing rapidly, with many planets being discovered that may have molten interiors. So the natural question became: how do we understand these molten planets?

I became interested in how molten exoplanets connect to the early stages of planets in our own solar system. That ultimately led me toward studying atmospheric chemistry.

Q. What has been the most awe-inspiring moment in your research or field?

A. What I find most awe-inspiring is how research from geoscience can now be applied to exoplanets. Geoscience is a relatively mature field compared to exoplanet science and we can use the data and knowledge from those studies and apply them to exoplanetary situations. Some exoplanets may have conditions similar to those found in Earth’s subduction zones, so Earth becomes a kind of natural laboratory for helping us understand planets beyond our solar system. That connection between Earth processes and exoplanet research is what I find really inspiring.

Q. Is there something you wish more people understood about your field?

A. One major challenge is how we connect geoscience, where we have a lot of information about Earth and other solar system planets, with exoplanets, where we will always have much less data. For exoplanets, we will often be less certain of our hypotheses and have fewer ways to test them. As a community, we need to be comfortable with the possibility that some questions may not have clear answers. For solar system planets, we may be able to answer many of these questions. For exoplanets, we may never be able to answer some of them in the same way. We need to remain aware that there may be boundaries to what we can actually understand about exoplanets.

Q. If you had to list 3 ingredients for success in research, what would they be?

A. I think the requirements for success in research are more complicated today. People who are successful either have multiple skill sets and can apply them broadly, or they are very effective at collaborating and bringing in the expertise they need.

Versatility is becoming increasingly important. Science and technology are moving very fast, so as a scientist, you always have to keep reinventing yourself. You may be an expert in one area, but you may need to learn something new to answer the science questions you care about.

That constant reinvention can be challenging because it requires you to keep pushing yourself. But it is also a great opportunity, because that is what you should want to do as a curious scientist. The ability to operate across fields should serve you well throughout your career.

Q. If you could give one piece of advice to young scientists, what would that be?

A. You have a rare opportunity to really dive deep into a subject in PhD and early postdoc because you have the relative security of time. As you become more senior, it gets increasingly difficult to focus deeply on one topic in the same way.

But at the same time, don’t become too boxed into your own field. Use the seminars, courses, lectures, visitors and take every opportunity to speak to people and absorb as much information as you can. That broader understanding will help you in the long term. It gives you perspective on fields outside your PhD and makes it easier to move between fields or apply your knowledge in new areas.

Q. What is your perspective on the field of geoastronomy? What do you think is its significance for current research ?

A. Geoastronomy is essential because it helps formalize the way geoscience and astronomy interact. Without funding and centres that bring these communities together, there will always be barriers between the fields. There are many problems in astronomy and astrophysics, and many problems in geoscience, but we need mechanisms that encourage people from these areas to interact. Once that interaction is encouraged, it can become self-sustaining. People begin to form collaborations, find overlap between their research fields, and produce new papers, ideas, and tangible research outputs. Bringing these communities together requires resources and a formal structure that people are invested in.