Ghislaine Crozaz (born 1939[1]) is a cosmochemist known for her research on the early history of the solar system through tracking trace elements in meteorites.
Ghislaine Crozaz | |
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Alma mater | Université libre de Bruxelles |
Scientific career | |
Institutions | Washington University in St. Louis |
Thesis | Mise au point d'une méthode de datation des glaciers basée sur la radioactivité du plomb-210 (1967) |
Doctoral advisor | Edgard Picciotto |
Doctoral students |
Crozaz received a B.Sc. in 1961 and a Ph.D. in 1967 from the University of Brussels.[2] In 1967, and from 1971 to 1972, she was a visiting associate in Geochemistry at California Institute of Technology.[2] She moved to Washington University in St. Louis as a postdoctoral investigator in the lab of Robert M. Walker (physicist). As of 2021, she is professor emerita in Earth and Planetary Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis[3] and lives in Brussels.[4]
The planet Ghislaine, discovered in 1986 by Carolyn Shoemaker and Eugene Shoemaker, is named after Crozaz.[1]
While a Ph.D. student, Crozaz pioneered the use of lead-210 to establish ages in ice cores in Antarctica[5][6] and Greenland.[7] While working in Brussels, Crozaz became interested in space science and meteorites she started working on the first lunar samples returned to Earth during the Apollo 11 mission.[8][4] She started her research in this arena by looking at fission tracks in lunar samples.[9] These lunar samples are still serving as the basis for scientific research many years later.[10][11] Crozaz went on to work with Ernest Zinner to develop an ion microprobe method to measure rare earth elements in the individual crystals found in extraterrestrial and terrestrial rocks.[12][13] Crozaz later participated in group efforts to sample meteorites in Antarctica, one of which was the first lunar sample found on Earth,[10] and through this research examined the history of meteorites found in Antarctica.[14][15]
Crozaz was married to Robert Walker, with whom she shared an interest in lunar materials.[16]