Detlef Günther
Professor for Trace Elements and Micro Analysis, Laboratory of Inorganic Chemistry, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zürich, Switzerland
Breaking the Wall of Timing Our History. How Trace Elements Analysis Will Help to Understand the Past of Our Planet
Anybody can count the rings of a felled tree to tell how old it is – but who can date a piece of limestone from the bottom of a Maya temple precisely to the month? The chemist Detlef Günther (1963) employs newly developed laser techniques to detect fluid inclusions in minerals, which can trace the workings of our environment and climate as far back as the Preclassic period. Having begun his academic career at the University of Halle-Wittenberg in East-Germany, then still shut off behind the Wall, Günther now is Professor for Trace Element and Micro Analysis at ETH, where he serves as Deputy Chair of the Department of Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences.
Be it gold objects from Peru or crystals from Mexico, Günther’s research of these materials brings the understanding of our planet up to the macro level. Why a civilisation as highly developed as that of the Mayas ceased to exist is only one of the many questions Günther’s findings can serve to answer.
