Thurefest - May 10, 2025
Attendees of a symposium on the work of Thure Cerling, held May 10 at the Utah Museum of Natural History. Cerling is pictured in the center left standing with his two young grandsons. Photo credit: Brian Maffly.
On Saturday, May 10th, 2025 we celebrated the career of Dr. Thure Cerling at the Utah Museum of Natural History.
"Over the course of an academic career spanning five decades, the University of Utah geoscientist has developed numerous forensic tools, such as isotope analysis, for understanding geological processes that affected the course of life on Earth, according to presentations given Saturday at a symposium to reflect on the contributions of Cerling, who is retiring this year.
His discoveries have reconstructed the diets of ancient animals, characterized the ecology of early human sites in East Africa, pinpointed when floods incised Grand Canyon, identified a global transition in vegetation types 3 to 10 million years ago, and even helped law enforcement crack cold cases and solve wildlife crimes. He is perhaps best known for exploiting the relative abundance of certain elemental isotopes as a way to date objects or determine where a person or animal lived or what they ate, earning him the moniker The IsoPope."
- Brian Maffly