Dr. Jolantha Eschrig

I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel working on meteorites and micrometeorites from Antarctica.

SHORT BIO

I started studying meteorites during my master's internship at the Université Grenoble Alpes, where I analysed the hydration history of carbonaceous and ordinary chondrites using FTIR spectroscopy. During my PhD the main goals included finding a link between meteorites and their asteroidal parent bodies through the comparison of reflectance spectral features, as well as constraining the secondary processes experienced by meteorites both on their parent bodies and on Earth. Following my PhD, I worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Natural History Museum St. Gallen during which I contacted, visited, and subsequently created an inventory of all public and institutional meteorite collections in Switzerland. With over 7600 specimens inventoried, I am one of the contact persons for information about meteorites in Swiss collections. 
Currently, I am working on the micrometeorites collected during the 2024/2025 expedition to the Belgica Mountains, Antarctica. The goal is to characterize the size distribution and type of micrometeorites from this region and compare them to other collection sites in Antarctica and worldwide. I am also involved in the classification of the meteorites collected during the same expedition.

BACKGROUND

• Postdoctoral researcher, Natural History Museum St. Gallen, Switzerland – 2023
• PhD in Earth and Space sciences, Université Grenoble Alpes, France, 2022
• MSc in Physics, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, Germany, 2019
• MSc in in Earth and Space sciences, Université Grenoble Alpes, France, 2018
• BSc in Physics, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, Germany, 2016

RESEARCH TOPICS

• Chondrites
• Micrometeorites
• Aqueous alteration
• Asteroidal parent bodies
• Meteorite classification
• Curation

KEY PUBLICATIONS

• Eschrig, J., Meier, M.M.M. and Hofmann, B.A. (2025), A complete inventory of institutional and public meteorite collections in Switzerland. Meteorit Planet Sci, 60: 1384-1410. 
  https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.14361
• Eschrig J., Bonal L., Mahlke M., Carry B., Beck P., Gattacceca J. (2022),
  Investigating S-type asteroid surfaces through reflectance spectra of ordinary
  chondrites, Icarus 381, 115012. 
  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2022.115012
• Eschrig, J., Bonal, L., Beck, P., Prestgard, T.J., (2021), Spectral reflectance analysis of type 3 carbonaceous chondrites and search for their asteroidal parent bodies. Icarus 354, 114034. 
  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2020.114034