Grenville Turner was a British geochemist who was a research professor at the University of Manchester. He was one of the pioneers of cosmochemistry.
Isotope geochemistry is an aspect of geology based upon the study of natural variations in the relative abundances of isotopes of various elements. Variations in isotopic abundance are measured by isotope-ratio mass spectrometry, and can reveal information about the ages and origins of rock, air or water bodies, or processes of mixing between them.
Sir Nicholas John Shackleton was an English geologist and paleoclimatologist who specialised in the Quaternary Period. He was the son of the distinguished field geologist Robert Millner Shackleton and great-nephew of the explorer Ernest Shackleton.
γ-Carotene (gamma-carotene) is a carotenoid, and is a biosynthetic intermediate for cyclized carotenoid synthesis in plants. It is formed from cyclization of lycopene by lycopene cyclase epsilon. Along with several other carotenoids, γ-carotene is a vitamer of vitamin A in herbivores and omnivores. Carotenoids with a cyclized, beta-ionone ring can be converted to vitamin A, also known as retinol, by the enzyme beta-carotene 15,15'-dioxygenase; however, the bioconversion of γ-carotene to retinol has not been well-characterized. γ-Carotene has tentatively been identified as a biomarker for green and purple sulfur bacteria in a sample from the 1.640 ± 0.003-Gyr-old Barney Creek Formation in Northern Australia which comprises marine sediments. Tentative discovery of γ-carotene in marine sediments implies a past euxinic environment, where water columns were anoxic and sulfidic. This is significant for reconstructing past oceanic conditions, but so far γ-carotene has only been potentially identified in the one measured sample.
In geochemistry, paleoclimatology, and paleoceanography δ13C is an isotopic signature, a measure of the ratio of the two stable isotopes of carbon—13C and 12C—reported in parts per thousand. The measure is also widely used in archaeology for the reconstruction of past diets, particularly to see if marine foods or certain types of plants were consumed.
Dame Carol Vivien Robinson is a British chemist and former president of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2018–2020). She was a Royal Society Research Professor and is the Dr Lee's Professor of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, and a professorial fellow at Exeter College, University of Oxford. She is the founding director of the Kavli Institute for Nanoscience Discovery, University of Oxford, and she was previously professor of mass spectrometry at the chemistry department of the University of Cambridge.
Anne Dell is an Australian biochemist specialising in the study of glycomics and the carbohydrate structures that modify proteins. Anne's work could be used to figure out how pathogens such as HIV are able to evade termination by the immune system which could be applied toward understanding how this occurs in fetuses. Her research has also led to the development of higher sensitivity mass spectroscopy techniques which have allowed for the better studying of the structure of carbohydrates. Anne also established GlycoTRIC at Imperial College London, a research center that allows for glycobiology to be better understood in biomedical applications. She is currently Professor of Carbohydrate Biochemistry and Head of the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial College London. Dell's other contributions to the study of Glycobiology are the additions she has made to the textbook "Essentials of Glycobiology" Dell was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2009 Birthday Honours.
Geoffrey Eglinton, FRS was a British chemist and emeritus professor and senior research fellow in earth sciences at the University of Bristol.
John Robert de Laeter, AO, FTSE, FAIP was an Australian scientist with a distinguished career across several fields in nuclear physics, cosmochemistry, geochronology, isotope geochemistry. He was also a prominent administrator and promoter who oversaw the establishment of several scientific research and education centres in Western Australia.
Sir Alexander Norman Halliday is a British geochemist and academic who is the Founding Dean Emeritus of the Columbia Climate School, and Former Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. He joined the Earth Institute in April 2018, after spending more than a decade at the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford, during which time he was dean of science and engineering. He is also a professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University.
Dinosterol (4α,23,24-trimethyl-5α-cholest-22E-en-3β-ol) is a 4α-methyl sterol that is produced by several genera of dinoflagellates and is rarely found in other classes of protists. The steroidal alkane, dinosterane, is the 'molecular fossil' of dinosterol, meaning that dinosterane has the same carbon skeleton as dinosterol, but lacks dinosterol's hydroxyl group and olefin functionality. As such, dinosterane is often used as a biomarker to identify the presence of dinoflagelletes in sediments.
Roger Everett Summons is the Schlumberger Professor of Geobiology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Professor of Geobiology in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences.
Meinrat O. Andreae, born in 1949 in Augsburg, is a German biogeochemist. Since 1987, he has worked as Director and Scientific Member at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (MPIC) in Mainz.
John H. Beynon FRS was a Welsh chemist and physicist known for his work in mass spectrometry.
Janne Blichert-Toft is a geochemist, specializing in the use of isotopes with applications in understanding planetary mantle-crust evolution, as well as the chemical composition of matter in the universe. To further this research, Blichert-Toft has developed techniques for high-precision Isotope-ratio mass spectrometry measurements.
John Michael Hayes was an American oceanographer. He worked at Indiana University Bloomington, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.
Crocetane, or 2,6,11,15-tetramethylhexadecane, is an isoprenoid hydrocarbon compound. Unlike its isomer phytane, crocetane has a tail-to-tail linked isoprenoid skeleton. Crocetane has been detected in modern sediments and geological records as a biomarker, often associated with anaerobic methane oxidation.
Marilyn L. Fogel was an American geo-ecologist and Professor of Geo-ecology at UC Riverside in Riverside, California. She is known for her research using stable isotope mass spectrometry to study a variety of subjects including ancient climates, biogeochemical cycles, animal behavior, ecology, and astrobiology. Fogel served in many leadership roles, including Program Director at the National Science Foundation in geobiology and low-temperature geochemistry.
Richard Evershed is a Professor of Biogeochemistry and Fellow of the Royal Society.
Biphytane (or bisphytane) is a C40 isoprenoid produced from glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether (GDGT) degradation. As a common lipid membrane component, biphytane is widely used as a biomarker for archaea. In particular, given its association with sites of active anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM), it is considered a biomarker of methanotrophic archaea. It has been found in both marine and terrestrial environments.
