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Naming the Species in the Zoo

Geochemist Stan Hart examines data with MIT/WHOI Joint Program student Rhea Workman (now a researcher at the University of Hawaii). Hart was recently announced as the winner of the Arthur L. Day Prize from the National Academy of Sciences, in recognition of his work in geodynamics, isotope geochemistry, and understanding the “mantle zoo” of rocks in the Earth’s interior. “I keep thinking that we are going to solve the problem of how Earth’s mantle has evolved, and I once predicted that the scientific community might do it within five years. That was fifteen years ago,” Hart jokingly recalls. “The job may never be complete, but we have made some real progress. And I couldn’t have done any of this without my students and post-docs.”(Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)