Header Arthur L. Day Prize and Lectureship
About the Arthur L. Day Prize and Lectureship
The Arthur L. Day Prize and Lectureship is awarded to a scientist making lasting contributions to the study of the physics of the Earth and whose lectures will provide solid, timely, and useful additions to the knowledge and literature in the field. The nominee should also be a good speaker with the ability to summarize and synthesize current knowledge in the field. The recipient is awarded a $50,000 prize and funds from the Arthur L. Day Bequest to present a series of Day Lectures.
Most Recent Recipient
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Jerry X. Mitrovica, Harvard University, will receive the 2023 Arthur L. Day Prize and Lectureship.
Mitrovica has advanced our understanding of the complex relationship between sea level and melting ice sheets and their impacts on human societies past and present.
Mitrovica’s research explores the structure, dynamics, and evolution of the Earth system through a combination of advanced theoretical work, numerical modeling, and data analysis. Read more about Mitrovica's work»
Award History
Previous recipients of the Arthur L. Day Prize and Lectureship continue to achieve outstanding advancements in their fields. Two recipients have been honored with a National Medal of Science.
Arthur L. Day Lectureship
Linda T. Elkins-Tanton, the 2020 Arthur L. Day Prize and Lectureship recipient, will present the 2023 Day Prize Lecture "The NASA Psyche Mission: An Electric Journey to a Metal World" at The University of New Mexico and South Carolina State University this Spring. Elkins-Tanton will discuss her upcoming NASA mission to explore Psyche. Exploration of this asteroid marks an important first for humankind: We have sent people or robots to explore rocky bodies, like the Moon and Mars, and icy ones, like Europa and Enceladus, and gas-rich bodies like Jupiter, but never a body made mostly of metal. Learn more about Elkins-Tanton's Day Lectures»
Susan Solomon, the 2017 Arthur L. Day Prize and Lectureship recipient, presented the 2018 Day Prize Lecture "A Brief History of Environmental Successes" at Bryn Mawr College. Solomon also explored how the lessons learned help us understand how to better manage today’s environmental problems, including climate change. Learn more about Solomon's Day Lectures»
Richard B. Alley, the 2014 recipient of the Arthur L. Day Prize and Lectureship, presented a series of five lectures on a variety of topics including climate change, energy, and the environment at locations throughout the United States. Learn more about Alley's Day Lectures»
Recipients:
Jerry X. Mitrovica (2023)
For his fundamental contributions to understanding the geophysical controls on global sea level variations and their impacts on human societies past and present.
Read more about Mitrovica's work»
Linda T. Elkins-Tanton (2020)
For her work that combines geodynamic modeling, petrology, geochemistry and field investigations to provide first-order constraints and fundamental insights into planetary chemical differentiation processes.
Read more about Elkins-Tanton's work»
Learn more about Elikins-Tanton's Day Lectures»
Watch Elkins-Tanton's acceptance speech»
Susan Solomon (2017)
For her work in understanding atmospheric chemistry related to stratospheric ozone depletion and for her leadership in communicating climate change science.
Read more about Solomon's work»
Learn more about Solomon's Day Lectures»
Watch A.R. Ravishankara's acceptance speech on behalf of Susan Solomon»
Richard B. Alley (2014)
For his contributions to understanding the Earth’s past climate through high precision dating of ice cores and for his elucidation of the physical and chemical processes that govern the accumulation of ice and its movement in glaciers and ice streams.
Learn more about Alley's Day Lectures»
Watch Alley's acceptance speech»
R. Lawrence Edwards (2011)
For innovative use of U-Th and stable isotope systems to discover and quantify abrupt 30-500 ka temperature excursions and their timings attending Milankovitch cycle-induced global climate changes.
Learn more about Dr. Edward's Day Lectures»
Stanley R. Hart (2008)
For development of the new field of "chemical geodynamics" through the use of the chemical and isotopic signature of mantle-derived samples to map and constrain the dynamical evolution of the Earth's interior.
Herbert E. Huppert (2005)
For fundamental research into the fluid mechanics of natural and multiphase flows and for pioneering the field of geological fluid mechanics.
Wallace S. Broecker (2002)
For his uniquely evocative, creative voice that has fundamentally changed the way we think about the role of oceans in the climate system.
Sean C. Solomon (1999)
For his analysis of seismological data constraining the tectonics of the earth's lithosphere, and for his development of global tectonic models of the moon and terrestrial planets.
James G. Anderson (1996)
For his pioneering work on the study of the abundance and chemical physics of radicals in the stratosphere and the effects of human influence on the ozone layer.
Hiroo Kanamori (1993)
For his outstanding contributions to the fundamental physics of the earthquake source process and to its application to earthquake prediction and mitigation of seismic risks.
Ho-kwang Mao (1990)
For his measurement of fundamental properties of elements and minerals under extreme conditions and development of the diamond cell to megabar pressures, thereby increasing our knowledge of planetary interiors.
Harmon Craig (1987)
For the masterful use of the isotopes of the elements from hydrogen through oxygen in attacking problems of cosmochemistry, mantle geochemistry, oceanography, and climatology.
Allan Cox (1984)
For his development of the geomagnetic-reversal time scale.
G. J. Wasserburg (1981)
For his work in the use of isotopes in studying geophysical problems of the solar system, ranging from the early solar nebula to rock formation on the moon and in the earth's mantle.
John Verhoogen (1978)
For his fundamental work on the thermodynamics of the earth's core and mantle, and his contributions to scholarship in the earth's sciences.
Drummond H. Matthews and Fred J. Vine (1975)
For their discovery that the stripes in oceanic magnetic anomaly patterns are a datable record of the history of sea-floor spreading and continental drift, thus making one of the major contributions to the revolution in earth sciences now known as plate tectonics.
Hatten S. Yoder, Jr. (1972)
For his work on mineral systems under extreme conditions of pressure and temperature.
