Main Focus
As an isotope geo-/cosmochemist, I use natural variations in the abundance of isotopes in combination with a solid background in mineralogy and geology to investigate the processes and timescales of the formation and evolution of matter - from the synthesis of the elements in stars to the make-up of the present day planets. I have many interests, but the main questions I try to address with my research are: What is the origin of the matter in our solar system, and how, when, and where did it accrete to form planetary bodies? How does mixing in the circumsolar disk influence the isotopic and elemental composition of the forming terrestrial planets? What can isotopes tell us about the physico-chemical conditions of nebular and planetary processes? How and when did Earth, Mars and the Moon fractionate their geochemical reservoirs, and how did these reservoirs evolve through time?
Curriculum Vitae
Awards and Fellowships:
2025 Ed Scott lecture of the Meteoritical Society
2018 Keynote address at Goldschmidt Conference, Boston
2016 Victor-Moritz-Goldschmidt-Award of the German Mineralogical Society (DMG)
2015 Keynote address and invited talk at Goldschmidt Conference, Prague
2013 ETH Medal for outstanding PhD thesis
2013 Pellas-Ryder Award for best student paper in planetary sciences by GSA/MetSoc
2013 Swiss National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellowship for research stay at the University of Chicago
2009 Bernd Rendel-Prize for young researchers by the DFG (German Research Society)
2008 A.E. Ringwood fellowship of the Australian National University (declined)
2007 Stipend of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) to carry out Diploma thesis at ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Education and Employment:
2022-today:
Senior Research Scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System
Research (Planetary Science Department), Göttingen, Germany
2025 Habilitation and venia legendi transfer to University of Göttingen, Germany
2022 Habilitation and venia legendi in Cosmochemistry and Geochemistry, WWU Münster, Germany
2017-2022 Research Associate (Akademischer Rat) at the Institut für Planetologie, University Münster, Germany
2015-2017 Postdoc at the Institut für Planetologie, University Münster, Germany
2013-2015 Postdoc and Lab manager at Department of Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, USA
2012 Postdoc at the Institute of Geochemistry and Petrology, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
2008-2012 Doctor of Sciences, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
2007 Diploma in Geology-Paleontology, University of Cologne, Germany
2006 Diploma in Mineralogy, University of Cologne, Germany
Selected Publications:
Tissot, F., Burkhardt, C.,
Kuznetsova, A., Pack, A., Schiller, M., Spitzer, F., Van Kooten,
E.M.M.E., Yap, T.E. (2025): Infall and disk processes - the message from
meteorites. Space Science Reviews 221:85.
doi:10.1007/s11214-025-01207-0
Steller, T., Burkhardt, C.,
Yang, C., Kleine, T. (2022): Nucleosynthetic zinc isotope anomalies
reveal a dual origin of terrestrial volatiles. Icarus 386, 115171.
doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2022.115171
Burkhardt, C., (2021): Planetary genealogy. Elements 17, 395-400.
doi:10.2138/gselements.17.6.395
Burkhardt, C.,
Spitzer, F., Morbidelli, A., Budde, G., Render, J., Kruijer, T.,
Kleine, T. (2021): Terrestrial planet formation from lost inner solar
system material. Science Advances 7, eabj7601.
doi:10.1126/sciadv.abj7601
Burkhardt, C.,
Dauphas, N., Hans, U., Bourdon, B., Kleine, T. (2019): Elemental and
isotopic variability in solar system materials by mixing and processing
of primordial disk reservoirs. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 261,
145-170.
doi:10.1016/j.gca.2019.07.003