 | Karl Turekian |
Karl Turekian, newly named as Sterling Professor of Geology and Geophysics, is a specialist in marine and atmospheric chemistry as well as in planetary evolution.
The Sterling Professorship is the highest honor bestowed on Yale faculty.
Appointed in 1956 as the University's first geochemist, Turekian directs both the Center for the Study of Global Change at Yale and the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies, and is curator of meteorites and planetary science at the Peabody Museum of Natural History.
The Yale scientist is interested in the application of natural radioactive and radiogenic isotopes to the study of Earth, particularly the impacts of global change over time. Using radioactive, radiogenic isotope measurements in Earth materials, Turekian has explored such subjects as the circulation of Long Island Sound, acid rain, sediment accumulation rates, the cosmic dust flux to Earth, and the composition of the continental crust, among others. Studies in his laboratory have also been aimed at determining the growth rates of marine organisms and the retardation of nuclides in groundwaters.
Turekian is the author of "Oceans," "Man and the Ocean" (with Yale geologist B.J. Skinner), "Chemistry of the Earth," "Oceanography" (with C. Drake, J. Imbrie and J. Knauss) and "Global Environmental Change." He edited "Late Cenozoic Ages" and co-edited "Encyclopedia of Ocean Sciences." He served on the editorial board of the publication "Handbook of Geochemistry."
A graduate of Wheaton College in Illinois, Turekian earned his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University. As a research associate at Columbia's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, he laid the foundation for the use of Sr isotopic ratios in uncovering Earth's environmental history. He joined the Yale faculty as an assistant professor in 1956 and was named a full professor in 1965. He has since held two endowed posts: the Henry Barnard Davis Professorship, to which he was appointed in 1972, and the Benjamin Silliman Professorship, to which he was named in 1985.
The geochemist has also held a number of administrative posts at the University. He chaired the Department of Geology and Geophysics 1982-1988 and chaired the Studies in the Environment Program 1992-1993. Earlier in his career he served as president of the Yale chapter of Sigma Xi and directed the Kline Geology Laboratory. He has been director of the Center for the Study of Global Change since 1989 and director of the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies since 1999.
Turekian's groundbreaking work in geochemistry has been recognized with numerous honors, including the Goldschmidt Medal of the Geochemical Society, the Maurice Ewing Medal of the American Geophysical Union and the Wollaston Medal of The Geological Society of London. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Geological Society of America, the Meteoritical Society, the American Geophysical Union and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
The Yale scientist has served as editor of numerous professional journals and has shared his scientific expertise as a member of many National Research Council committees and several international committees concerned with the health of the Earth.
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Geochemist Karl Turekian named
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