Lonnie Thompson

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Lonnie Thompson. Antarctic Expedition, 1974
Lonnie Thompson. Antarctic Expedition, 1974

Lonnie Thompson (b.1948), is a paleoclimatologist and Distinguished University Professor in the School of Earth Sciences at The Ohio State University. He has achieved global recognition for drilling ice cores from mountain glaciers and ice caps in the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. He and his wife, Ellen Mosley-Thompson, run the ice core paleoclimatology research group at the Byrd Polar Research Center. [1]

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[edit] Biography

Lonnie Thompson was born July 1, 1948 in Gassaway, West Virginia. He went on to obtain his undergraduate degree from Marshall University, where he majored in geology. He subsequently attended The Ohio State University where he received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees.


“ In his efforts to obtain ice cores, Thompson has spent an enormous amount of time at elevations above 5,500 meters. High-altitude climbers typically tackle a peak by spending time in a series of camps at lower elevations to acclimatize and then making a final rushed push for the summit. But Thompson and his loyal band of colleagues, students and mountain guides spend literally months at a time working at altitude...

Thompson and his colleagues have managed to drill into tropical glaciers with nothing more to rely on than a combination of modest funding, low-tech equipment, ingenuity and sheer muscle power. Because the thin air at high altitudes precludes the use of helicopters, all of the drilling equipment and supplies must be carried up and down the slopes by yaks, mules, horses or humans...

 ”

-- Mark Bowen, Thin Ice

[edit] Honors and awards

2001: Thompson was featured among eighteen scientists and researchers as "America's Best" by CNN and Time Magazine.

2002: Thompson was awarded the Dr A.H. Heineken Prize for Environmental Sciences by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.

2002: Thompson was awarded the Vega Medal by the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography.

2005: Thompson was elected to the National Academy of Science.[2]

November, 2005: Thompson was featured in a "Rolling Stone" article, "The Ice Hunter"

2005: Thompson was awarded the prestigious Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, an honor often regarded as the environmental science equivalent to the Nobel Prize. [3]

February, 2007: Mosley-Thompson and Thompson were jointly awarded the Roy Chapman Andrews Society Distinguished Explorer Award at Beloit College, Beloit, WI. [4]

May, 2007: Thompson is named to receive the National Medal of Science. [5] This honor is the highest the United States can bestow upon an American scientist. It will be presented to Thompson by President Bush sometime in July. [6]

2008: Mosley-Thompson and Thompson share the $1million Dan David Prize (Future category) with British researcher Geoffrey Eglinton.

[edit] Publications

Lonnie Thompson has gone on dozens of field research expeditions; has been awarded 53 research grants from the NSF, NASA, NOAA and NGS; and has over 165 publications. An abbreviated list of expeditions, grants, and publications can be found in Lonnie's C.V. (PDF).

Some notable publications include:

[edit] References

[edit] Trivia

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During a storm atop Huascaran, Peru's highest peak (>6,000 m.), gale-force winds pushed Thompson's tent (with him inside) towards a precipice. Thompson saved himself with a self-arrest, jamming his ice ax through the floor of his tent. (Source: Bowen, Thin Ice)

[edit] External links