Emeritus Fellow elected to Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei

St Edmund Hall Emeritus Fellow Professor Hugh Jenkyns has been elected as a Foreign Member of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei following his geological research in Italy.

Founded in 1603, the Accademia is Italy’s most prestigious scientific society with over 500 members, encompassing both natural and moral sciences. Hugh’s election to the society is within the Class of Physical, Mathematical and Natural Sciences, Category IV – Geosciences. A popular former tutor at Teddy Hall, from 1978 to 2018, he is also a Foreign Member of the Milan-based Istituto Lombardo Accademia di Scienze e Lettere.

Hugh undertook his PhD work in Sicily working on ancient deep-sea sedimentary rocks in and around the village of Corleone, later made famous in relation to the titular character of The Godfather. Much of his subsequent research, primarily utilizing geochemical techniques, has centred on outcrops in the Italian peninsula, particularly in Campania, Marche-Umbria and in the Southern Alps north of Venice.

He is best known for his recognition that certain black shales rich in organic matter and belonging to the Cretaceous Period, which were originally described from just outside the mediaeval city of Gubbio, record a global phenomenon whereby the world ocean was largely devoid of oxygen and global temperatures were extraordinarily high.

The Hall would like to warmly congratulate Hugh on his election to the Accademia. More information can be found on the Oxford University Earth Sciences page.