Christopher Pearce is a marine geochemist at Southampton University and has only recently turned to the world of blogging to find out what other people do when not sitting inside a lab. Chris gained his undergrad degree from Oxford University and PhD from The Open University, before embarking on an academic career with postdoctoral positions at the Observatoire Midi Pyrenees (Toulouse) and back at The Open University. In his current fellowship Chris uses various isotopic systems to investigate changes in the composition of seawater through Earths history. Like all geologists, Chris enjoys getting out and about as much as possible and goes scuba-diving, snowboarding, and hiking all over the world. Chris lives with his fiancée, Melanie, who’s a volcanologist and is therefore far cooler than he is.
Global media attention was drawn to Iceland last week when days of increased seismic activity around Bárðarbunga culminated in the spectacular fissure eruption in the Holuhraun lava field
I write this as a free man. For the last couple of months I have been bound by the single-mindedness and obsession that drives all academics in the lead up to a submission deadline
During my childhood a massive part of the pre-Christmas hype was about who would make it to the coveted number 1 spot in the UK charts. I remember waiting in anticipation to see whether Cliff Richard
Remember remember the fifth of November; gunpowder, treason and plot… At this time of year children and adults throughout the UK dress up warm and brave the winds and rain in order to watch a human
My bag’s unpacked, the backlog of emails has been read and sleep deprivation is just about back to normal. I can therefore now look back on what was yet another thoroughly enjoyable and exhausting
In my previous post, ‘A geochemistry ditty’, I penned what is possibly the geekiest poem you will ever come across. I was therefore pleasantly surprised when several people got in touch to say ...
As I sit here watching my columns drip, I thought I’d put together a little writ. It’s about something that’s not always so plain to see
It was the season for carol singing, tree decorating and merry making. This year, however, the highlight of Christmas for me was the fact that I was able to stay in one place
For the fourth time in my career I am starting life at a new institution. Like most academics I’ve had several jobs since completing my PhD and each post has involved a change in surroundings
Taking its name from one of the great pioneers of geochemistry, Victor Moritz Goldschmidt (1888-1947), the Goldschmidt conference has become a key annual event for geochemists
I recently attended a ‘Research in Progress’, or ‘RiP’, meeting organised by the UK’s Geochemistry Group. In contrast to the sombre undertones that such a heading carries
I, like many other aspiring academics, am currently locked in the rounds of writing fellowship proposals that if funded will see me break free of the shackles of being somebody’s postdoc
