News

Royal Astronomical Society Medal for Volcanic Research

(8 March 2005)

The University offers congratulations to Professor Gillian Foulger, who will be awarded The Price Medal by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS).

This medal is awarded every other year, for investigations of outstanding merit in solid-earth geophysics, oceanography, or planetary sciences. Professor Foulger, Professor of Geophysics in the University, will be given this award in recognition for her research in Iceland and other ‘hot spots’, which has caused a major rethinking of a pillar of modern geophysics.

It was widely believed that ‘hot spots’, regions of long-lived excess volcanism such as Iceland, Hawaii or Yellowstone, result from plumes of hot material upwelling from great depth in the mantle.

Professor Foulger, and an international team of over a hundred scientists, have worked hard to this idea, highlighting evidence that plumes are, in fact, not the cause, and may not even exist at all.

Professor Foulger said, “I am working in a controversial subject within Earth Sciences that my colleagues and I feel has traditionally been uncomfortably received because it challenges conventional wisdom. I feel that this award represents the Royal Astronomical Society signalling that such challenges are welcome in Science. I take this award as a pat on the back for everyone involved.”

At a meeting of the RAS in London in May, Professor Foulger will be presented with a medal, cast by the Royal Mint and engraved with her name, on which occasion she will also give a lecture on her work.

Professor Foulger hopes that in receiving this award, it will encourage others to join the investigation into the exciting subject of the causes of ‘hot spot’ volcanic activity.

If you would like to find out more on this subject, the world-famous website http://www.mantleplumes.org, which Professor Foulger manages, provides a wealth of interesting information. It contains contributions from over 180 scientists, including scholarly articles, research resources and material for and by students, the press and lay people.