Dr. Richard Carlson

Director

Department of Terrestrial Magnetism

Carnegie Institute of Washington

rcarlson@carnegiescience.edu

 

Richard Carlson obtained a BS in chemistry at the University of California, San Diego (1976) and PhD in Earth science at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (1980).  He joined the scientific staff of the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the Carnegie Institution of Science in 1981 and was appointed Director in 2014.  His research focuses on the use of the elemental and isotopic composition of rocks and minerals to investigate the origin and evolution of the Solar System, terrestrial planets, Moon and Earth. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, Geochemical Society and the American Geophysical Union, a Member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, recipient of the 2008 Bowen Award of the AGU and the 2013 Day Medal of the Geological Society of America, and the Past President of the Geochemical Society.