Ros Rickaby facts for kids

Rosalind Emily Majors Rickaby, known as Ros Rickaby, is a professor at the University of Oxford. She works in the Earth Sciences Department. Her special field is biogeochemistry. This area of science looks at how living things and the Earth's chemistry interact.

Education and Early Career

Ros Rickaby went to school at Berkhamsted School for Girls and Haileybury College. She then studied Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge. She earned her first degree there in 1995.

Later, in 1999, she completed her PhD at Cambridge. A PhD is a very high university degree. It shows someone is an expert in their chosen field. Her PhD supervisor was Harry Elderfield.

After her PhD, Professor Rickaby did two years of post-doctoral research. This means she continued her studies and research after getting her PhD. She worked at Harvard University in the United States.

Researching Earth's Past

After her time at Harvard, Professor Rickaby joined the University of Oxford. She became a faculty member in the Earth Sciences Department. Her main research focuses on paleoceanography. This is the study of oceans in the past.

She also studies biogeochemical cycling. This looks at how important chemicals move through the ocean over long periods. Professor Rickaby uses tiny fossil shells from ocean micro-organisms. These shells act like clues. They help her understand how the Earth's climate changed long ago.

Her research team uses special methods. They look at tiny amounts of elements and different forms of atoms, called isotopic ratios. This helps them understand how ancient organisms like coccolithophores lived. Coccolithophores are tiny ocean plants that make chalky shells.

Professor Rickaby also helped write a book. It is called Evolution's Destiny: Co-evolving Chemistry of the Environment and Life. She wrote it with Bob Williams.

Awards and Achievements

Professor Ros Rickaby has received many important awards for her scientific work:

• 2008: She won the European Geosciences Union Philip Leverhulme Prize. This award is for outstanding young scientists.
• 2009: She received the 36th Rosenstiel Award from the University of Miami.
• 2010: She was given the James B. Macelwane Medal. This medal is for young scientists who have made big contributions to Earth sciences.
• 2012: She received the Gast lectureship for her excellent work in geochemistry.
• 2016: The Royal Society gave her the Wolfson Research Merit Award.
• 2017: She was awarded the Geological Society of London's Lyell Medal. This medal is for contributions to the study of soft rocks.
• 2022: She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). This is a very high honor for scientists in the UK.
• 2025: She was awarded an OBE. This honor is given for services to biogeochemistry.