Maurice E. Tucker
The 2009 Jean Baptiste Lamarck Medal is awarded to Maurice E. Tucker for his outstanding work on carbonate sediments.
Maurice Tucker is a leading authority on carbonate sediments. He has published over 115 papers in international journals, mostly on limestones, dolomites and evaporites, from many different parts of the geological record and from numerous countries worldwide. He has written three universally acclaimed best-selling textbooks for students and researchers: Sedimentary Petrology (translated into several languages, Blackwell Science, 1980, 1991, 2002); Sedimentary Rocks in the Field (John Wiley, 1981, 1993, 2005); Carbonate Sedimentology (with Paul Wright, Blackwell Science, 1990). He has also edited nine books, including: Techniques in Sedimentology; Carbonate Diagenesis; and Calcretes. He has served as President of the International Association of Sedimentologists, 1998–2002, then Past-President 2002–2006 (an official position on the IAS Bureau), and IAS Distinguished Lecturer 2006, visiting many geological institutes in Eastern Europe, South America, and India. He has given innumerable keynotes at conferences and convened many symposia, recently including Argentina, Croatia, Germany, India, Japan and Peru.
Maurice was Chief Editor for the journal Sedimentology 1982–1986, Assistant Editor of Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 1986–1989, during which time he was Publications Secretary for the IAS. He has served on the Editorial Boards of Facies, Geologia Croatio, Geoabstracts, and more recently (1999–2008), Sedimentary Geology. From 1984–1987 he was a member of the Research Grants Committee of the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and from 2005–2008 a member of the College of the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
In recognition of his contributions, Maurice has been awarded: (1) the Major Coke Medal of the Geological Society of London, 1994, for research and work for learned societies; (2) A Lifetime Achievement Award from the British Sedimentological Research Group, 2007; (3) Honorary Membership of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Croatia for outstanding contributions to science, 2008; (4) and in February 2009, the ‘Medaille Andre Dumont’ for major scientific achievements in carbonate sedimentology by the Geological Society of Belgium.
Maurice has supervised over 30 PhD students and is currently supervising five more. He has externally examined more than 35 PhD theses, and has been an external examiner for BSc and MSc degrees at the universities of Aberdeen, Oxford, Reading and the Open University. Maurice has always been exceptionally keen to spread the word on carbonates, giving talks and posters at numerous conferences over the years, and has taught short courses on carbonate sedimentology, sequence stratigraphy and diagenesis in universities and at conferences in many countries, including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Croatia, Denmark, Egypt, France, Hungary, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Spain and Venezuela.
Maurice is a lively, enthusiastic and personable character, with an exceptional breadth of knowledge. He takes every opportunity to extol the virtues and beauty of his beloved limestones. He is rightly recognised internationally as an outstanding world expert on carbonate sediments.