In 1997 alone, Schlosser submitted 10 articles to various journals, including Applied Geochemistry, Journal of Geophysical Research and Water Resources Research. This is just the beginning. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Wally Broecker, Newberry Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences, dreamed about adding a noble gas laboratory to the geochemistry department. I knew of Peter's work in Heidelberg, and when we met at a conference in Toronto in 1987, I thought it was a big opportunity. Schlosser thanks the Keck Foundation when he thinks about how quickly everything fell into place.
Mass spectrometers are awe-inspiring specimens of technology.
Housed behind several nondescript doors within the unassuming geochemistry building, the four machines live in a small palace designed especially for them. The Noble Gas Lab runs day and night, even when the rest of Lamont is quietly sleeping behind locked doors. The interplay of all the components is the really fun work. The research projects in geochemistry are expanding broadly. While Martin Stute, LDEO associate research scientist, is looking at trace noble gases from wells in Maryland to find out the continental temperature of the last ice age, Sidney Hemming, also an associate research scientist, is waiting for ratios between argon isotopes to tell her the dates of mineral crystals.