September, 2012

Our first invited travelling speaker -- Paul F. Hoffman

Paul  F. Hoffman is a tectonic and sedimentary field geologist, who has recently retired as professor of Geology at the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (USA). Earlier in his career he was a pioneer in the comparison of Holocene and Proterozoic carbonates, and in the application of plate tectonics to the Proterozoic. His snowball earth related studies originated in northern Namibia, where he has worked annually since 1993. His graduate students Galen P. Halverson, Adam C. Maloof, Francis X. Macdonald and David S. Jones have conducted stratigraphic, geochemical and paleomagnetic research in Svalbard, Morocco, Arctic Alaska and northwest Canada. Paul is still a very dynamic researcher  and exciting speaker in the field of earth system science.

Paul was invited by our Life & the Planet programme to give several talks across the UK. Having just finished his one month field trip in Namibia, Paul came to London with all of his luggage and launched his UK trip with a talk at UCL on 18th. Sept . He gave another keynote speech, as the Wollaston medal recipient of the Geological Society of London, during the Formor Meeting at Burlington House on the 19th.  You can find the abstract of Paul's UCL talk below and even download his ppt.

Paul just finished his Britol visit and is on his way to St. Andrews. Please click to see the up-to-date news.

Photo from http://www.geoportalen.no/planetenjorden/klima/snowball/

The Strangest 85 Million Years in Earth History
Paul F. Hoffman

The talk ppt: