Paul Tackley

The 2025 Arthur Holmes Medal & Honorary Membership is awarded to Paul Tackley for important advances in modelling mantle dynamics that have resulted in a deeper understanding of mantle convection, plate tectonics, and the evolution of the Earth and other planets.

Paul Tackley has made numerous significant contributions to understanding how the solid Earth evolved and how the mantle interacts with the lithosphere. His research has been highly influential across a wide range of disciplines in the Earth sciences. Driven by advanced numerical modelling, his analyses incorporate data from different disciplines, including geochemistry, geophysics, and geodynamics, as well as planetary sciences. The advanced three-dimensional numerical models developed by Tackley illuminate the behavior of material in the planet's deep interior. His modelling has produced a deeper appreciation of the dynamic relationship between convection in the Earth's mantle and plate tectonics at the Earth's surface.

Tackley has carried out notable studies of the dynamic conditions in the Earth's interior, involving properties of all the concentric spherical layers that form the planet's internal structure. His models of mantle convection and plate tectonics integrate geochemical, thermal and mechanical properties. Several thermal sources supply heat in the Earth's core; Tackley integrated the heat balance with a dynamic model of mantle convection to explain the thermal evolution of the core during the 4.5 Gyr of Earth history. His investigations have shown that chemical heterogeneity in the Earth's mantle has a large effect on the evolution of the geodynamo in the Earth's core, and therefore on the geomagnetic field. He showed that the pattern and sizes of global tectonic plates are related to the dynamic relationship between mantle convection and the strength of the lithosphere.

Tackley's impressive record also comprised investigations of the evolution of other planets. He pioneered the development of global thermochemical models that contribute to understanding the evolution of Venus, Mars and Mercury. His pioneering investigations have also advanced the interpretation of the composition and evolution of exoplanets and their dependence on stellar composition.

Tackley has mentored many young scientists and has served the scientific and academic communities in various editorial and administrative functions. In summary, Paul Tackley is an outstanding scientist whose impressive research has had a profound impact on our understanding of the internal dynamics of the solid Earth and the rocky planets. He is a highly deserving recipient of the prestigious Arthur Holmes medal in 2025.