Nicholas Shackleton
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Nicholas Shackleton | |
 "Nick" Shackleton
|
|
| Born | 23 June 1937 |
|---|---|
| Died | 24 January 2006 |
| Nationality | British |
| Fields | geology |
| Known for | Quaternary Period |
Professor Sir Nicholas John Shackleton FRS (23 June 1937—24 January 2006) was a British geologist and climatologist who specialised in the Quaternary Period. He was the son of the distinguished field geologist Robert Millner Shackleton FRS and great-nephew of the explorer Ernest Shackleton.
Educated at Cranbrook School, Kent, Shackleton studied natural sciences at Clare College, University of Cambridge, graduating with the BA in 1961, and in 1964 the MA. His PhD, entitled 'The Measurement of Paleotemperatures in the Quaternary Era', was awarded in 1967.
Apart from periods abroad as visiting professor or research associate, Shackleton's entire scientific career was spent at Cambridge. He became Ad hominem Professor in 1991, in the Department of Earth Sciences, working in the Godwin Institute for Quaternary Research.
Shackleton was a key figure in the field of palaeoceanography, publishing over two hundred scientific papers. He was a pioneer in the use of mass spectrometry to determine changes in climate as recorded in the oxygen isotope composition of calcareous microfossils. He also found evidence that the earth's last magnetic field reversal was 780,000 years ago. He is probably best known for his contribution to the "Hays, Imbrie and Shackleton" paper in Science in 1976, entitled 'Variations in the Earth's orbit: Pacemaker of the ice ages' which, using ocean sediment cores, demonstrated that oscillations in climate over the past few million years could be correlated with variations in the orbital and positional relationship between the Earth and the Sun (see Milankovitch cycles).
Much of Shackleton's later work focused on constructing precise timescales based on matching the periodic cycles in deep-sea sediment cores to calculations of incoming sunlight at particular latitudes over geological time, a method which allows a far greater level of stratigraphic precision than other dating methods, and also helped to clarify the rates and mechanisms of aspects of climate change.
In September 2000 he published an innovative study of the relationship between the oxygen isotope record of the oceans and isotope records obtained from the ice in Antarctica (glacial effect). This helped to pin down the relative contribution of deep water temperature changes and ice volume changes to the marine isotopic record, and also highlighted the close interdependency between carbon dioxide levels and temperature change over the last 400,000 years.
In 1995 became the director of the Godwin Institute for Quaternary Research. In 1998, he was knighted for his services to earth sciences. From 1999 to 2003 he was president of the International Union for Quaternary Research (INQUA).
Shackleton was also a fine amateur clarinet player, and collector of woodwind instruments. During his lifetime he amassed the world's largest collection of clarinets, and his Cambridge home became a place of pilgrimage for many players and scholars. He was well known as an organologist, reflected in his many journal articles, as well as his contributions to the 1980 and 2001 editions of Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Most of Shackleton's substantial instrument collection, numbering over 700 specimens, was bequeathed to Edinburgh University together with an endowment. Part of the collection is now exhibited at the Reid Concert Hall Museum of Instruments in Edinburgh, and the collection has been described in a published catalogue[1].
Shackleton was highly respected by many musicians, and a friend to many who studied at Cambridge, including Christopher Hogwood. The fine copies, by Cambridge maker Daniel Bangham, of many clarinets in Shackleton's collection, had a significant impact on historical performance from the 1980s, and continue to be used by leading performers today.
[edit] Awards
- Doctor of Science (ScD), University of Cambridge, 1984
- Fellow of the Royal Society 1985
- Shepard Medal (SEPM) for excellence in marine geology 1985
- Carus Medal, Deutsche Akademie für Naturforscher 'Leopoldina' 1985
- Lyell Medal, Geological Society of London 1987
- Founding member, Academia Europaea 1988
- Fellow, American Geophysical Union 1990
- Huntsman Medal for excellence in the marine sciences (Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Canada) 1990
- Crafoord Prize, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences 1995 (jointly with Willi Dansgaard)
- Honorary Doctor of Laws, Dalhousie University Canada 1996
- Wollaston Medal, Geological Society of London 1996
- Honorary Doctor of Philosophy, Stockholm University 1997
- Knighhood for services to the earth sciences in 1998
- Milankovitch Medal, European Geophysical Society 1999
- Foreign Associate, Us National Academy of Sciences, 2000
- Foreign Member, Royal Netherlands Society of Arts and Sciences, 2001
- Honorary Doctorate, Geology, University of Padova Italy, 2002
- Ewing Medal, American Geophysical Union, 2002
- Honorary member, EUG, 2003
- Urey Medal, European Association of Geochemistry, 2003
- Royal Medal, Royal Society of London, 2003
- Vetlesen Prize, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, 2004
- Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2004
- Blue Planet Prize, Asahi Glass Foundation, Japan, 2005
[edit] References
- Brozan, Nadine (February 12, 2006). Sir Nicholas Shackleton, Geologist, Is Dead at 68. New York Times
[edit] External links
- A special issue of Quaternary Science Reviews dedicated to Nick Shackleton; includes several articles by and about him, as well as a complete list of his publications.
- Nicholas Shackleton
- Tributes
