| 1 | Name: | Dr. W. G. Ernst | |
| Institution: | Stanford University | ||
| Year Elected: | 1994 | ||
| Class: | 1. Mathematical and Physical Sciences | ||
| Subdivision: | 105. Physical Earth Sciences | ||
| Residency: | Resident | ||
| Living? : | Living | ||
| Birth Date: | 1931 | ||
W.G. Ernst joined the faculty of the University of California, Los Angeles, on January 1, 1960. He rose through the ranks to professor of geology and geophysics, chairman of the department of geology, (1970-74), chairman of the department of earth and space sciences, (1978-82), and UCLA director of the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics (1987-89). On September 1, 1989, he moved to Stanford University for a five-year term as dean of the School of Earth Sciences. Since 1999, he has held the Benjamin M. Page Chair, School of Earth Sciences, Stanford University. Dr. Ernst was chairman of the Board of Earth Sciences of the National Research Council (1984-87), served on the NRC Board of Earth Sciences and Resources (1988-93), and is a trustee for the Carnegie Institution of Washington, DC (1990-present). He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences (chairman, section of Geology, 1979-82; secretary, then chair of Class I from 1997-2003) and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the American Geophysical Union, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Geological Society of America (president, 1985-86), and the Mineralogical Society of America (president, 1980-81). Dr. Ernst is also the author of six books and research memoirs, editor of 15 other research volumes, and author of more than 220 scientific papers, (not including numerous abstracts, book reviews, etc.) dealing with the physical chemistry of rocks and minerals; the Phanerozoic interactions of lithospheric plates and mobile mountain belts, especially in central Asia, the Circumpacific and the Western Alps; early Precambrian petrotectonic evolution; ultrahigh-pressure subduction-zone metamorphism and tectonics; geobotanical studies; Earth System science/remote sensing; and mineralogy and human health. He received the Mineralogical Society of America MSA Award in 1969 and its Roebling Medal for 2005, UCLA Faculty Research Lecturer in 1988, the Geological Society of Japan Medal for 1998, the Stanford School of Earth Sciences Outstanding Teaching Award for 2003, the Penrose Medal of Geological Society of America for 2004, and the American Geological Institute's Legendary Geoscientist Award in 2008. | |||