News

Hiroshi Takeda, an Emeritus Professor at the University of Tokyo, passed away on September 11, 2023, just one day short of his 89th birthday. Globally recognized for his groundbreaking work in mineralogy and crystallography for solid Earth and planetary material science, Takeda's accolades are numerous. Notably, he received the Leonard Medal from the society in 2010. Back home in Japan, he was honored with the Special Award during the Japan Mineralogical Society's 50th anniversary in 2002 and the esteemed 26th Manjiro Watanabe Award in 2009. More…

Stephen F. Wolf passed away unexpectedly on April 22, 2023 at the age of 58. Stephen (‘Steve’) was Professor of Chemistry at Indiana State University in Terre Haute. Steve was a highly respected analytical chemist with many interests including analytical method development and the use of novel multivariate chemometric techniques. He often combined these interests when examining meteorite compositions. More…

The Memorial Service for Dieter Stöffler has been scheduled for Tuesday, 9 May 2023, at 13:00 hours (Berlin time). It will take place in the Chapel of Waldfriedhof Zehlendorf (Wasgensteig 30, 14129 Berlin). ––– It is with profound sadness that we have to report that our dear friend, mentor, and colleague Dieter Stöffler passed away on the evening of Wednesday, 5 April 2023, More…

I am sad to report that our friend and colleague Klaus Keil passed away peacefully Friday night at home after a long battle with cancer. He was Emeritus Professor, former Director of the Hawai`i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, and former Interim Dean of the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology. Klaus was an outstanding scientist, spectacular mentor, educator, and leader, dedicated family man, and enthusiastic tennis player. More…

An eminent pioneer of noble gas geochemistry, Peter Signer, emeritus professor at ETH (Switzerland) died on Friday, Dec. 10, 2021. After a long illness, he peacefully fell asleep at the age of 92. Following his dissertation at the University of Bern on a mass spectrometric study of the 176Lu decay constant with Friedrich Houtermans and a seven-year stay with Alfred O. Nier at the University of Minnesota, Peter Signer was appointed professor for Geo- and Cosmochronology at ETH Zurich in 1965. He founded the Laboratory for Noble Gas Mass Spectrometry, which he led until his retirement in 1994 and which is now headed by Henner Busemann in the third generation. More…

It is with great sadness that we announce that Sandra Pizzarello passed away on October 24, 2021. She greatly enhanced the research field of molecular, isotopic, and chiral analysis of organic compounds in carbonaceous chondrite meteorites since the 1970s. During her active research career, she produced an impressive number of achievements in her studies on the origin and chemical evolution of organic compounds in the early Solar System and the origin of homochirality in living systems. More…

Its with great sadness that we announce the sudden death of Ed Scott on October 7. Edward Robert Dalton Scott was born on 22 March 1947 in Heswall, England, and died suddenly on 7 October 2021 in San Rafael, California at the age of 74. He is survived by his wife Anneliese Sullivan Scott, his two daughters, Victoria and Rosemarie, and grandchildren Theo, Octavia, and Fiona. Ed was a superb scientist with deep curiosity about the Solar System and its origin, coupled with disarming modesty, a positive personality, a subtle sense of humor, and exceptional kindness. He will be missed. More…

Stuart Ross Taylor, Leonard Medalist (1998) and former president of the Meteoritical Society (1989-1990) passed away at his home in Canberra, Australia, this month. Ross was a geochemist who made seminal contributions to our understanding of the origin and evolution of Earth’s continental crust, and the composition and origin of the Moon, meteorites, tektites, and the solar system. More…

Günter W. Lugmair passed away on March 31 after a short illness. A Fellow of the Meteoritical Society since 1980 when he also served as an organizer of the Annual Meeting in La Jolla, and winner of the society’s Leonard Medal, Günter’s mastery of the mass spectrometer pushed the precision of isotopic measurements to new levels. He pioneered the applications of new radiometric systems and measurements of nucleosynthetic anomalies to fundamentally advance our understanding of the processes operating in the early Solar System. More…

James J. Papike passed away on Dec. 21, 2020, at the age of 83. He was emeritus director of the Institute of Meteoritics, University of New Mexico and Fellow of the Meteoritical Society. He was active in and had been an officer or councilor in the Mineralogical Society of America (president), the American Geophysical Union, the Geochemical Society (president), the Society of Economic Geologists, the National Academy of Sciences, the Universities Space Research Association, and numerous other professional organizations. More…