March 18, 2013
Karl Turekian, who was the Sterling Professor of Geology and Geophysics at Yale University, passed away March 15. Turekian was a world-renowned geochemist, past President of the Geochemical Society, editor or associate editor for eight geochemistry journals, and author of numerous books and hundreds of papers. He received his A.B. from Wheaton College in 1949 and his Ph.D. from Columbia in 1955 then started what turned out to be a 50 year career as Professor at Yale. Turekian was a larger-than-life personality whose infectious enthusiasm for geochemistry contributed hugely to the development of the field. His personality shines through in his autobiography which chronicles his path through the wide range of geochemical topics to which he contributed over his remarkable career, and well displays his ability to tell a good story.