The Tibetan Plateau, uplift of which has been a major factor in controlling global climates since the Miocene.
Maureen Raymo
The Wollaston Medal is the highest
annual accolade of the Geological
Society of London. It was established
by William Hyde Wollaston, a noted
British chemist, to promote ‘researches
concerning the mineral structure
of the Earth’ …‘or of the science
of Geology in general’. This medal
is given to geoscientists who have
made a significant impact through the
publication of a substantial body of
excellent research. It was first awarded
to William Smith in 1831 and the
subsequent roll of honour is a listing of
pre-eminent geologists. Remarkably,
it was not until 2014, 183 years after
the award to Smith that the medal was
first awarded to a woman — Maureen
Raymo.
Currently based at the Lamont-Doherty
Earth Observatory of Columbia
University in New York, Raymo has
been one of the most influential
paleoclimatologists of the last 30 years.
Her work encompasses three main
strands. Firstly, she co-authored the
‘uplift-weathering hypothesis,’ which
linked the creation of the Himalayas
and the Tibetan Plateau with the onset
of global cooling and polar ice sheet
expansion, demonstrating a causal link
between global climate and tectonic
processes. Secondly, she pioneered the
synthesis of oxygen isotope data from
benthic records to establish a standard
proxy for sea-water temperature and
ice volume variations over the last
five million years. Thirdly, she created
and led the Pliomax project which
led to a better understanding of sea-
level and climate change during the
Pliocene. The mid-Pliocene is a good
analogue for a future Earth subjected to
substantial global warming and elevated
atmospheric CO 2 . Her 2008 review
article in Nature with Peter Huybers
titled ‘Unlocking the mysteries of the
ice ages’ is a testament to the mark
she has made in understanding glacial-
interglacial climate changes and her
ability to tackle some of the most long-
standing problems in this field.
Born in Los Angeles, Raymo was raised
near Boston, in Easton, Massachusetts,
by a father who taught college physics
and wrote popular science books, and