Listening to meteorites: Music from the minerals of other worlds

About this event

What if you could hear the story of a meteorite? What if rocks from space could sing? In this presentation, our speakers will transform the hidden beauty of meteorites (some older than Earth itself) into music, translating their microscopic textures and mineral structures into sound. By looking at thin sections of meteorites under a microscope, we can appreciate their unique patterns: from metallic intergrowths to droplets of once-molten rock, and mineral textures unlike any found on Earth. Using sonification, the process of making music with data, we can map these geological features to musical elements like pitch, rhythm, and harmony. Through sound, we are going to offer a fresh perspective on the complexity and wonder of a little-known aspect of our solar system and let the minerals of other worlds sing.

About our speakers

Event presented by Dr Domenico Vincinanza, a pioneering expert in data sonification from Anglia Ruskin University with University of Cambridge Earth Scientist Dr Carrie Soderman. 

Event presented as part of the Cambridge Festival.