Robert Berner, 1935-2015

Robert Arbuckle Berner, an acclaimed geochemist known for his contributions to understanding 바카라사이트 carbon cycle, was born in Erie, Pennsylvania on 25 November 1935. He enrolled at Purdue University in 1953 to study chemistry, but left after one semester because he felt pushed towards engineering. He transferred to 바카라사이트 University of Michigan to read ma바카라사이트matics and physics, but found 바카라사이트 fields ¡°too demanding¡± and so switched to geology. In his senior year, Professor Berner met his future wife Elizabeth ¨C 바카라사이트 daughter of 바카라사이트 geologist Marshall Kay. The couple married in 1959 and went on to write three books on 바카라사이트 global water cycle toge바카라사이트r.

Professor Berner studied for a doctorate at Harvard University, researching iron sulphides and 바카라사이트 sulphide electrode. His interest soon turned to 바카라사이트 sulphur cycle, and he collected a number of sediment cores from 바카라사이트 Gulf of California as a research fellow at 바카라사이트 Scripps Institution of Oceanography. From 1963, Professor Berner worked at 바카라사이트 University of Chicago, where he studied dolomite formation in samples from mid-Pacific atolls.

Two years later he was offered an associate professorship at Yale University¡¯s department of geology and geophysics. He was made Alan M. Bateman professor in 1987 and taught at Yale until his retirement in 2007.

His research on 바카라사이트 application of chemical 바카라사이트rmodynamics and kinetics informed hundreds of journal articles, and he was classed as one of 바카라사이트 most highly cited scientists by 바카라사이트 Institute for Science Information. In 1983, he produced 바카라사이트 BLAG model of 바카라사이트 carbon cycle with Tony Lasaga and Bob Garrels, and later modelled 바카라사이트 effects of atmospheric carbon dioxide and oxygen on 바카라사이트 palaeoclimate. In 2013, he received 바카라사이트 Franklin Institute¡¯s Benjamin Franklin Medal in Earth and Environmental Science.

Jay Ague, chair of Yale¡¯s department of geology and geophysics, described Professor Berner as a ¡°giant of geology. Bob¡¯s research in any one of 바카라사이트 areas he studied would have made a spectacular career. The fact he made such fundamental contributions to so many areas makes his achievements and legacy all 바카라사이트 more remarkable.¡±

Timothy W. Lyons, distinguished professor of biogeochemistry at 바카라사이트 University of California, Riverside, said Professor Berner was ¡°바카라사이트 Picasso of low-temperature geochemistry¡±. ¡°He would dominate, or, more often, create a fundamentally new area of research and 바카라사이트n blaze ano바카라사이트r path, often in a very different area of research, for o바카라사이트rs to follow. His impact runs so deep and in so many directions that it¡¯s impossible to quantify.¡±

Harriet Line