Summary
Biography
- Principal Research Fellow, Planetary Science, Imperial College 2005-
- Royal Society Research Fellow, Imperial College 2002-
- Royal Society Research Fellow, Open University 2000-2002
- PPARC Research Fellow, Natural History Museum 1998-2000
- Royal Society Overseas Research Fellow, Western Australian Museum (Perth, Australia) 1997-1998
- Multimedia consultant to Earth Sciences, Open University 1996-1997
- Researcher in meteoritics and planetary science, Open University 1995-1996
- PhD Open University 1992-1994
- EUROMET Curator of Meteorites, Open University 1991-1993
Recent Measures of Esteem
- 2002-8 Royal Society University Research Fellowship
- 2007- STFC Rolling Grants Panel and Astronomy Grants Panel
- 2007- Royal Society Hooke Committee
- 2006-9 Co-PI on £1.2 million EU Marie Curie Research Training Netweok grant ORIGINS
- 2006 Asteroid named in honour of Phil Bland by the International Astronomical Union
- 2005 NASA Stardust mission preliminary examination team
- 2001 US Antarctic Service Medal
Research Interests
Three distinct areas: 1) the origin and early evolution of the Solar System through analysis of primitive meteorites and cometary samples; 2) understanding asteroid and cometary impacts, on Earth and other planets; 3) identifying the source regions and parent bodies for meteorites in the Solar System by recovery of samples with known orbits. Highlights include:
- Participation in a number of space missions: Bepi Columbo, MIXS science team (ESA); ExoMars XRD science team (ESA); STARDUST sample-return, member of mineralogy & petrology preliminary examination team (NASA)
- Searching for meteorites in deserts
- Aqueous processes in primitive asteroids: why the most primitive rocks in existence are also the most aqueously altered
- Establishing a fireball camera network in the Australian desert
- Rock fabrics in primitive meteorites
- Predicting meteorite accumulations on Mars
- Meteorite chemistry: showing that volatile depletion (the first, and arguably the most important chemical process in the early Solar System) affected all chondritic materials; and confirming that chondrule formation was a disk process
If you want to find out more about our work on meteorite chemistry, read the full text of our paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA: "Volatile fractionation in the early Solar System and chondrule/matrix complementarity".
- Determining the impact rate for meteorites and asteroids on Earth
If you want to find out more about the impact rate work, read the full text of our paper in Nature: "Efficient disruption of small asteroids by Earth's atmosphere", and also the New Scientist article about our work
If you want to find out more about the Argentina work, read the full text of our paper in Science: "A possible tektite strewn field in the Argentinian Pampa", and also the Science Perspectives article by H. Jay Melosh: "Traces of an unusual impact"
Publications
Journals
Spurny P, Bland PA, Shrbeny L, et al. , 2012, The Bunburra Rockhole meteorite fall in SW Australia: fireball trajectory, luminosity, dynamics, orbit, and impact position from photographic and photoelectric records, Meteoritics & Planetary Science, Vol:47, ISSN:1086-9379, Pages:163-185
Welten KC, Meier MMM, Caffee MW, et al. , 2012, Cosmic-ray exposure age and preatmospheric size of the Bunburra Rockhole achondrite, Meteoritics & Planetary Science, Vol:47, ISSN:1086-9379, Pages:186-196
Borovicka J, Abe S, Shrbeny L, et al. , 2011, Photographic and Radiometric Observations of the HAYABUSA Re-Entry, Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan, Vol:63, ISSN:0004-6264, Pages:1003-1009
Conference
Bland PA, Muxworthy AR, Collins GS, et al. , 2011, Heterogeneous shock in porous chondrites: Implications for Allende magnetization, 74th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical-Society, Wiley-Blackwell, Pages:A22-A22, ISSN:1086-9379
Dyl KA, Benedix GK, Bland PA, et al. , 2011, METAMORPHISM IN THE NEWLY RECOVERED MASON GULLY (H5) ORDINARY CHONDRITE AND ITS CORRELATION TO ANOMALOUS PROPERTIES, 74th Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical-Society, WILEY-BLACKWELL, Pages:A61-A61, ISSN:1086-9379