Whether it’s roadkill livestock or his own beard hairs, Thure Cerling’s keen eye for objects to analyze has led to scientific discoveries, both unexpected and groundbreaking.

Over the course of an academic career spanning five decades, the University of Utah geoscientist has developed numerous forensic tools, such as isotope analysis, for understanding geological processes that affected the course of life on Earth, according to presentations given Saturday at a symposium to reflect on the contributions of Cerling, who is retiring this year.

His discoveries have reconstructed the diets of ancient animals, characterized the ecology of early human sites in East Africa, pinpointed when floods incised Grand Canyon, identified a global transition in vegetation types 3 to 10 million years ago, and even helped law enforcement crack cold cases and solve wildlife crimes. He is perhaps best known for exploiting the relative abundance of certain elemental isotopes as a way to date objects or determine where a person or animal lived or what they ate, earning him the moniker The IsoPope.

Cerling “is a profoundly curious and interested individual. He seeks out and he finds systems that are interesting around him and he finds interesting questions and finds ways to bring these fundamentals into new areas,” said symposium moderator Gabe Bowen, a U geology professor and former student of Cerling’s. “He’s not afraid to go out and sample things and just get materials and might not know exactly what they’re going to be good for right at that time, but Thure’s a collector and this pays off.”

The event was held at the Utah Museum on Natural History, where dozens of scientists from around the country gathered to celebrate Cerling’s contributions to science and  his impact on them personally.

Cerling has authored 332 publications with collaborators from across the scientific map, drawing a staggering 46,239 citations, according to co-moderator Kevin Uno. The 2022 winner of the Rosenblatt Prize, the U’s highest faculty honor, Cerling holds U appointments in both geology and biology.

The program featured five speakers, each discussing a key area of science where Cerling has made important contributions. The morning session featured anthropologist Bernard Wood, George Washington University, on human origins; paleontologist Bruce McFadden, University of Florida, on the rise of grassland ecosystems on Earth over the last 10 million years and the impact on mammals; and geochemist Jay Quade, University of Arizona, on reconstructing past vegetation and hydroclimates from stable isotopes in soil carbonates.

“For most of us academics in the room, accomplishing just one of these three things in a career would be amazing,” said Uno, one of Cerling’s former graduate students who is now an associate professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard. “Thure has done all of this and more.”

The “more” came in the afternoon session which featured Kip Solomon, chairman of the U’s Department of Geology & Geophysics, speaking on cosmogenic isotopes and radionuclides, and U biology professor Jim Ehleringer, Cerling’s primary collaborator in the field of isotope analysis.

Ehleringer marks 1983, the year he met Cerling when they were both young professors at the U, as Year Zero in his academic life. Bonding over a shared interested in paleoecology, the pair would go on to establish the SIRFER lab, or Stable Isotope Ratio Facility for Environmental Research, in 1986, which has since expanded into a sprawling network of instruments supporting investigations in anthropology, biology, geology, chemistry, ecology and medicine.

They also launched IsoCamp, an annual two-week program in isotope analysis that draws scientists from around the world.

Peter Trapa, a mathematics professor who now serves the U as vice provost and senior dean of the Colleges and Schools of Liberal Arts and Sciences, noted how scientists like Cerling make science interesting and impactful with their unrelenting curiosity.

“I consider Thure’s legacy, and all the connections he’s made and great collaborations, not only an important domain of science you’ve contribute to, but also an important part of the legacy of the University of Utah and College of Science,” Trapa said.

To cement that legacy, Trapa announced the establishment of a new endowment in Cerling and Ehleringer’s names to support the consolidation and operation of the SIRFER instrumentation in a 3,000-square-foot space currently under renovation in the Sutton Building.

A native of Chicago, Cerling started college majoring in engineering at Iowa State, before taking geology courses at the suggestion of his sister. He was hooked.

“I discovered in this field you don’t have to specialize in anything. You can do chemistry, physics, math. You get to do all the sciences and you didn’t have to choose, and that was a wonderful thing,” he said. “Having this broad training is what really helped me. I loved it so much that after switching to geology from two other majors and thinking about switching to English literature, I decided to also get a degree in chemistry. I tell students that the university setting is the one place where you are expected to take away more than you actually give.”

 

• Brian Maffly Science writer, University of Utah Communications
  801-573-2382 brian.maffly@utah.edu