Ruth Blake facts for kids

Ruth E. Blake is an amazing American scientist. She studies both geochemistry and environmental science. A geochemist looks at the chemistry of the Earth. An environmental scientist studies how living things and their environment interact.

Dr. Blake is a professor at Yale University. She teaches about Earth and planetary sciences. She also teaches about environmental studies and engineering. Her work helps us understand how the ocean works. She also studies Earth's past climates and even life in space!

Her Education

Ruth Blake studied a lot to become a scientist. She earned her first degree, a Bachelor of Science (B.S.), in geology from Wayne State University. Geology is the study of Earth's solid features.

Then, she got a Master of Science (M.S.) degree from the University of Texas. This degree was in hydrogeology. Hydrogeology is about how water moves through the ground.

In 1998, she earned her Ph.D. in geochemistry from the University of Michigan. For her Ph.D., she studied how tiny living things, like microbes, can change oxygen isotopes in rocks called phosphates.

What She Studies

As a professor at Yale, Dr. Blake continued her important research. She used clues from old ocean rocks. These clues helped her show that there was a lot of life in the ocean a very long time ago. This time was called the Archean era.

Dr. Blake also works on many other topics. She studies how living things and chemicals interact in oceans. She also looks at how they interact in dirt and sand. She even helps create new ways to study the chemical makeup of things.

Awards She's Won

Dr. Blake is a highly respected scientist. In 2002, she won the F.W. Clarke Medal. This special award comes from the Geochemical Society. It is given to young scientists who have done great work in geochemistry.