University of Minnesota Gate

Professor Larry Edwards receives Benjamin Franklin Medal in Earth and Environmental Sciences

CSE professor joins the likes of Thomas Edison and Marie Curie as a Franklin Institute laureate

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (01/27/2023)—University of Minnesota Twin Cities Professor R. Lawrence “Larry” Edwards has been awarded the 2023 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Earth and Environmental Sciences, one of the highest honors in the field. Edwards is recognized for his contributions to fundamental advances in high-precision methods for dating geologic records of climate change, which have led to a more detailed understanding of the earth’s climate system over the past million years.

The Franklin Institute medals provide “public recognition and encouragement of excellence in science and technology” and are awarded in several fields. Past recipients include esteemed scientists and engineers such as Thomas Edison, Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, and Jane Goodall among many others.

Edwards will receive a $10,000 honorarium and a 14-karat gold medal at the institute’s 2023 awards ceremony and dinner in April.

Edwards is a Regents and Distinguished McKnight University Professor in the University of Minnesota N.H. Winchell School of Earth and Environmental Sciences. He is known worldwide for developing extremely precise methods for measuring the ages of rocks and applying these methods to study climate history and ocean chemistry. His modern uranium-thorium dating methods have been crucial in furthering scientists’ understanding of climate change.

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