Stephen Cheeseman, Artsci鈥85, does more than just ponder life鈥檚 big questions. He funds research to answer them. The geology graduate still wonders about things he learned during his first-year geophysics course at Queen鈥檚 about the formation and evolution of the Earth.
鈥淭he question that really haunted me is: Why is it that over the 4.5 billion years of Earth鈥檚 existence, we still have an atmosphere?鈥 says Cheeseman. 鈥淭his atmosphere is effectively sustaining carbon-based life as we know it. Why are there not any other planets in the solar system with that same characteristic?鈥
Earth, Venus, and Mars all have rocky surfaces, but the one difference is Earth has a moon. Mars has two tiny moons, and Venus has none. So is the moon key to creating life on Earth?
Cheeseman, a successful businessman from British Columbia, is funding the Geoselenic Research Project (within the Queen鈥檚 Department of Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering) to bring researchers together to explore fundamental theories about the relationship between Earth and the moon in relation to our planet鈥檚 formation and evolution.
鈥淥ur understanding of how planets form and how life develops and is sustained over hundreds of millions of years is based on models and hypotheses, and while we have had advances in understanding, the picture is far from complete,鈥 says professor and project lead Dr. Alexander Braun.
The Earth鈥檚 magnetic field, which is generated in our planet鈥檚 core, plays a major role in protecting us from cosmic radiation. The research project will look at several key questions, such as: Do we need the moon to sustain the magnetic field? How did the interior of the Earth evolve over time, thermally and chemically? And what control does it have over processes on Earth鈥檚 surface that are important for the evolution of life?
鈥淚s it possible that the moon is responsible for creating the precise conditions for the development and longevity of all life on this planet?鈥 Cheeseman wonders. 鈥淚f you take the moon away, would the atmosphere get ripped away by solar radiation?鈥
The Geoselenic Research Project provides the funding to bring together experts in different fields and subfields 鈥 such as geodynamics, geochemistry, meteoritics, thermodynamics, and magneto hydrodynamics 鈥 who don鈥檛 normally work closely together to look for the answers.
Cheeseman is the CEO of the renewable energy company Chinook Power Corp., not a full-time geological scientist. He is funding the research because he wants to contribute to society鈥檚 fundamental understanding of how and why the Earth continues to support life.
鈥淎s I get older, I am far more curious than when I was younger,鈥 says Cheeseman. 鈥淚f we can find out answers to questions, society is better off for it and I am happy to help with that.鈥
