Robert N. Clayton | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1930-03-20)March 20, 1930 |
| Died | December 30, 2017(2017-12-30) (aged 87) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Cosmochemistry |
| Institutions | University of Chicago |
Robert Norman ClaytonFRS (March 20, 1930 – December 30, 2017) was a Canadian-American chemist and academic. He was the Enrico Fermi Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at theUniversity of Chicago. Clayton studiedcosmochemistry and held a joint appointment in the university's geophysical sciences department. He was a member of theNational Academy of Sciences and was named a fellow of several academic societies, including theRoyal Society.
Born inHamilton, Ontario, Clayton grew up in a working-class family that supported (but could not pay for) his pursuit of higher education. None of Clayton's close family members had ever attended college. His high school teachers encouraged him to apply toQueen's University, and he received enough scholarship funding to attend the school. Clayton said that around half of his classmates were a decade older and had served inWorld War II. He said that this created a serious academic environment.[1]
After graduating from Queen's University with undergraduate and master's degrees, Clayton completed a Ph.D. in 1955 at theCalifornia Institute of Technology, where he was mentored by geochemistSamuel Epstein. His first academic appointment was atPenn State University. In 1958, he joined the chemistry faculty at the University of Chicago, where he took over the laboratory of Nobel Prize winnerHarold Urey. From 1961 to his retirement in 2001, he held joint appointments in the chemistry and geophysical sciences departments. He directed theEnrico Fermi Institute at the university from 1998 to 2001.[2]
Clayton worked in the field ofcosmochemistry and is best known for the use of the stableisotopes of oxygen to classify meteorites.[1] He was aided in his research byToshiko Mayeda, who was a specialist technician familiar with themass spectrometry equipment required. Their first joint research paper described the use ofbromine pentafluoride to extract oxygen from rocks and minerals.[3] They developed several tests that were used across the field of meteorite and lunar sample analysis.[4][5][6]
Clayton and Mayeda studied variations in the ratio ofoxygen-17 andoxygen-18 to the most abundant isotopeoxygen-16, building on their surprising finding that this ratio for oxygen-17 in particular was different from that found in terrestrial rock samples.[7] They deduced that this difference was caused by the formation temperature of the meteorite and could thus be used as an "oxygen thermometer".[8] They also worked on the mass spectroscopy and chemistry of theAllende meteorite[1][9] and studied the Bocaiuva meteorite, finding that theEagle Station meteorite was formed due to impact heating.[10]They also analysed approximately 300 lunar samples that had been collected duringNASAsApollo Program.[11] In 1992, a new type of meteorite, theBrachinite, was identified.[12] Clayton and Mayeda studied theAchondrite meteorites and showed that variations in the oxygen isotope ratios within a planet are due to inhomogeneities in thesolar nebula.[13] They analysedShergotty meteorites, proposing that there could have been a water-rich atmosphere in the past onMars.[14]
In 1981, he received theV. M. Goldschmidt Award from theGeochemical Society.[15] The next year, theMeteoritical Society awarded him itsLeonard Medal.[16] Clayton won theElliott Cresson Medal from theFranklin Institute in 1985.[17] He was the 1987 recipient of theWilliam Bowie Medal from theAmerican Geophysical Union.[18] Clayton became a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1996 and won the academy'sJ. Lawrence Smith Medal in 2009.[19][20] Clayton has been named a fellow of the Royal Society of London (1981) and theRoyal Society of Canada.[2] He won theNational Medal of Science in 2004.[21] In 2008, the bookOxygen in the Solar System was dedicated to Clayton.[22]
On December 30, 2017, Clayton died his sleep at his home in Indiana from complications ofParkinson's disease.[4]
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