"I’m fascinated by how modern technologies can help us reveal the inner workings of our planet."

Does your research support efforts to predict earthquakes?
Predicting earthquakes is like balancing a needle on its tip and being able to say exactly in which direction it will fall – only even more complex. Instead, we focus on understanding the earth’s interior as precisely as possible, in order to quantify the mechanisms of earthquakes and the tremors they cause.

What are the latest findings?
I’m fascinated and amazed by how modern technologies can help us reveal the inner workings of our planet. Among such technologies are not only supercomputers and faster simulation algorithms, but also fibre-optic telecommunications networks. Today, we can use fibres as dense sensor networks.

Is computing power reaching its limits?
The bigger problem is the increasing number of users and their needs, rather than the computing power itself. We’re actively testing new approaches such as quantum computing to see if they can improve the situation.

You also work together with hospitals. What can you as a seismologist contribute to medical research?
We conduct foundational research for developing medical imaging techniques. The goal is to adapt modern simulation and analytic algorithms – originally developed for understanding the earth – to much smaller scales in medical settings. Here we take advantage of the physical and mathematical similarities between seismic and ultrasound waves.

You are a researcher, co-founder of the ETH spin-off Mondaic and Director of Studies at the Department of Earth Sciences. Do you ever have time to just switch off and relax?
Leisure wouldn’t be leisure if one had enough time for it! Having little leisure time is a price I happily pay for having my hobby as my career. I get to work on fascinating subjects that will hopefully also contribute to human advancement, and I’m supported by a brilliant team!