P.W. Gast Lecture

About the P.W. Gast Lecture

This award is bestowed jointly by the EAG and the Geochemical Society and has been named in honor of Paul W. Gast, the first Goldschmidt medallist (the Goldschmidt award is bestowed by the Geochemical Society). This lectureship is awarded to a mid-career scientist for outstanding contributions to geochemistry. The lecture is presented as a plenary at the Goldschmidt Conference.

The selection of the lecturer alternates between the GS Board of Directors and the EAG Council depending on the location of the Goldschmidt Conference.

To be eligible, nominees must have received their PhD at least 10 years and no more than 25 years of full time equivalent research employ before the Goldschmidt conference at which the lecture is presented.
Nominations of underrepresented groups are encouraged.

We are committed to promoting the diversity of our awardees, to recognizing a wide range of different types of exceptional contribution, and we acknowledge the different career paths that lead to the achievement of such contributions.

The award is presented annually at the Goldschmidt Conference and consists in a certificate and an honorarium (1000 Euros).

About Paul W. Gast

Paul W. Gast (1930-1973)

During his career, Paul W. Gast pioneered the study of rare earth elements in examining the crust, mantle, and interior of the planet. He led the development of the use of rubidium-strontium and uranium-lead radiometric dating methods for rocks, particularly for samples returned from the Moon. His examinations of trace elements resulted in new understands of how volcanic fluids originate. Gast was the first recipient of the V.M. Goldschmidt Award.

Recipient of the 2025 P.W. Gast Lectureship: Helen Williams

University of Cambridge, UK

Helen Williams will present the 2025 Paul W. Gast Lecture as a plenary lecture at the Goldschmidt2025 Conference.

Helen Williams is Professor of Geochemistry and Planetary Science at the University of Cambridge (UK). Her research interests center around the application of non-traditional stable isotope systems to understanding the formation and evolution of planetary interiors, focusing on topics such as accretion, core formation and the evolution of mantle redox state, isotopic tracing of depleted and enriched mantle components, element cycling and the oxidation state of subduction zones and the secular evolution of the Earth’s mantle. More info

Former recipients of the P.W. Gast Lectureship

Click on the Lecture Title to watch the lecture.

*Year*	*Name*	*Institution*	*Lecture title*
2024	Jiubin Chen	Tianjin University, China	Tracing Metal Adventures from Earth to Life
2023	Phoebe Lam	University of California, Santa Cruz, USA	Marine particle geochemistry: influence on biogeochemical cycles in the ocean
2022	Vanessa Hatje	Universidade Federal da Bahia, Campus Ondina, Brazil	Rare Earth Elements: Tracers of Natural and Anthropogenic Processes Along the Continent-Ocean Continuum
2021	Sonja Aulbach	Goethe-University Frankfurt, Germany	Chemical geodynamics with eclogite
2020	Jochen Brocks	Australian National University, Australia	Lost World of Complex Life: Molecular Traces of our Deepest Eukaryotic Ancestors
2019	Carrie Masiello	Rice University, USA	New Synthetic Biology Tools to Track Microbial Processes in Soils and Sediments
2018	Caroline Slomp	Utrecht University, the Netherlands	Oxygen Loss In Coastal Waters: Impact on Geochemical Cycles
2017	Shuhei Ono	Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA	Clumped Isotopologue (¹³CH3D) Fingerprinting of Methane Sources
2016	Shogo Tachibana	Hokkaido University, Japan	Chemical Evolution of the Solar System: Laboratory Experiments and Small-Body Explorations
2015	Ann Pearson	University of Harvard, USA	Organic Geochemical Proxies
2014	Tim Elliott	University of Bristol, UK	The Implications of a Non-Chondritic Terrestrial Mg Isotope Composition
2013	Sujoy Mukhopadhyay	University of California Davis, USA	Probing the Hadean World with Noble Gases
2012	Ros Rickaby	University of Oxford, UK	Tight coupling of life and metals throughout evolution
2011	Victoria Orphan	Caltech, USA	Microbial Partnerships and Methane-Oxidation in the Deep Sea
2010	Jérôme Chappellaz	University of Grenoble, France	Greenhouse Gases and their Isotopes in Firn Air and Ice Cores
2009	Ken Farley	Caltech, USA	Major events in the recent history of the solar system recorded by 3He in deep-sea sediments
2008	Jérôme Gaillardet	IPGP, France	Direct coupling between chemical and physical erosion rates in the West Indies
2007	Kate Freeman	PennState University, USA	Direct coupling between chemical and physical erosion rates in the West Indies
2006	John Eiler	Caltech, USA	Application of stable isotope geochemistry to elucidate processes and conditions on the Earth and other planets
2005	Eric Oelkers	CNRS Toulouse, France	Mineral Surface Reactivity from the Global to the Atomic Scale
2004	Peggy O’Day	UC Merced, USA	Cheeseburger in Paradise: Nutrients, Contaminants, and Cycling Across the Abiotic-Biotic Divide
2003	Hiroshi Ohmoto	PennState University, USA	Chemical and Biological Evolution of the Early Earth: A Minority Report
2002	Patricia Dove	Virginia Tech, USA	Deciphering the Physical Basis of Biomineralization through the Lens of Mineral Assembly
2001	Donald DePaolo	UC Berkeley, USA	Ca Isotope Geochemistry
2000	Jill Banfield	UC Berkeley, USA
1999	Bernard J. Wood	University of Oxford, UK	Trace Element Partitioning: A Blunt Geochemical Instrument
1998	Everett Shock	Arizona State University, USA
1997	Edouard Bard	Collège de France, France	Geochemical and Geophysical Implications of the Radiocarbon Calibration

Career Paths

The European Association of Geochemistry and the Geochemical Society recognize that there are diverse research career paths, as well as the challenges of managing a research career alongside other personal commitments, possible chronic illness, and/or disability. When reviewing applicants’ eligibility and research experience, the societies will take into consideration - where reported with brevity in nomination packages - time spent working on a part-time basis and/or outside of the research environment. If a nominee has been reported to have worked part-time, they should briefly state the percentage of full-time equivalent hours that they observed and the time period it pertains to.

Where nominees have had a career break, worked outside of scientific research (where relevant to the nominee’s assessment category), taken formal periods of maternity, paternity shared parental and adoptive leave as the primary care giver, or extended/repeated sick or bereavement leave, this will be taken account of by awards committees. Each case will be considered individually.