Australia:

Finding Majesty in the Earth's Dynamics (The Age)

Professor Mike Sandiford

In some circles, Mike Sandiford is known as the scientist who helped start Australia talking about geothermal energy; others know him better as the earthquake expert. Professor Sandiford is also one of the visionaries who united all the energy-related researchers at the University of Melbourne into the Melbourne Energy Institute; yet he sums himself up as the “accidental scientist”.

“I seem to change earth science disciplines every five years,” he says.

“Before I joined the University in 2000, my research in South Australia spurred interest in the geothermal energy sector in Australia. While I ended up advocating for this alternative energy source, it’s not actually what I set out to investigate. I spent a lot of time mapping South Australia’s hot rock province to understand how it dictated the location of earthquakes in Australia, and how it was expressed at the geological evolution of the Australian continent.

“But one should never ignore the science in societal terms. While geothermal energy potential has not yet been realized, we now know there is a vast resource in Australia.”

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