Geochemist Janne Blichert-Toft wins Murchison Medal

Geochemist Janne Blichert-Toft wins Murchison Medal

By Linda Welzenbach
Special to Rice News

Geochemist Janne Blichert-Toft, the Wiess Visiting Professor in the Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, will receive the Murchison Medal from the Geological Society of London June 6.

Janne Blichert-Toft

Blichert-Toft, research director for the National Center for Scientific Research at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Lyon, France, and a regular visitor to Rice since 2008, is recognized for her research using isotopes to understand planetary mantle-crust evolution, as well as the chemical composition of matter in the universe.

Bilchert-Toft is only the third woman to receive the medal, which has been awarded annually since 1873 to recognize geologists whose lifelong body of research has made significant contributions to “hard” rock studies.

Blichert-Toft works with Rice faculty members Cin-Ty Lee and Alan Levander to better understand the history and complex relationships between magma generation and growth of continental crust in the western United States.

–Linda Welzenbach is a science writer in the Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences at Rice.