2024 A.O.C. Nier Lecture
Mark your calendars for the annual A.O.C. Nier Lecture hosted by Earth & Environmental Sciences and the School of Physics and Astronomy on December 5, 2024 at 4:00 PM CST in Tate Hall room B50.
This year’s Nier Lecturer is Dr. James Kasting, Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences, Emeritus, Penn State University.
James Kasting is an American geoscientist and Distinguished Professor of Geosciences at Penn State University. He is considered a world leader in the field of planetary habitability, assessing habitable zones around stars. He is interested in atmospheric evolution, planetary atmospheres and paleoclimates. Kasting writes about the geophysical history and status of the Earth, with a focus on atmospherics. He was well known among the geologists for his ground breaking idea on the only long term negative feedback for the atmospheric carbon dioxides: the carbon silica cycle.
A.O.C. Nier served as a highly distinguished faculty member of the Physics Department for 42 years starting in 1938. He was actively involved in research up to the time of his death in 1994. A firm believer in “pursuits of knowledge - in areas, which cross traditional lines” he had an enormous impact on the geological sciences by his pioneering work on isotope abundances and measurements of many elements which are used in radiometric age determinations of geologic materials. He received many national and international awards in recognition of his discoveries and contributions to Physics, Geological Sciences and many other fields.