Sensing Change: Murray Johnston
This interview was conducted as part of the Institute’s yearlong Sensing Change initiative exploring the interconnections between art, science, and our changing environment.
Murray V. Johnston III is a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Delaware. His research focuses on applying mass spectrometry to determine changes in matter, specifically related to problems of atmospheric, environmental, and biological significance.
What’s really important when you get down to thinking of global climate, and how could these measurements affect you?
—Murray V. Johnston III
Murray Johnston explains how his research group utilizes their data to visualize what is happening in our atmosphere.
When people connect to something, they talk about it. Murray V. Johnston III discusses why the connection is necessary to climate-change science.
Would you look at the size of that mass spectrometer! Murray V. Johnston III explains how he gets his lab instruments through the door.
Instruments like mass spectrometers are an important method by which scientists can study changes in the air at the most minute levels, even the level of nanoparticles. While we can’t see all the changes in the air that might affect things like cloud formation or climate, Johnston’s research provides us with a fundamental understanding of particles in the air and the various factors at work that change how particles form, react, and behave.
Learn more about Johnston and his research: