David A. Hodell (born 1958) is a British–American

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

and

paleoclimatologist Paleoclimatology ( British spelling, palaeoclimatology) is the scientific study of climates predating the invention of meteorological instruments, when no direct measurement data were available. As instrumental records only span a tiny part of ...

. In October 2008, Hodell was appointed to the position of

Woodwardian Professor of Geology The Woodwardian Professor of Geology is a professorship held in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge. It was founded by John Woodward in 1728 under the title of Professor of Fossils. Woodward's will left to the Universit ...

at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

in the United Kingdom, where he is also a fellow of

Clare College Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. It was refounded ...

. He is a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and the United States. He is also the Director of th
Godwin Laboratory for Palaeoclimate Research
Previously, he taught at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

from 1986–2008, earning the rank of full professor in geological sciences. Hodell was also the director of the Stable Isotope Laboratory from 1996–2008. Hodell earned his Ph.D. in 1986 in

oceanography Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of to ...

from th
Graduate School of Oceanography

University of Rhode Island The University of Rhode Island (URI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is the flagship public research as well as the land-grant university of Rhode Island. The univer ...

after earning his bachelor of arts in 1980 in

geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

from the

University of Vermont The University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, commonly referred to as the University of Vermont (UVM), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont, United States. Foun ...

. He is a geochemist who studies Earth’s past climate. He has led many drilling expeditions of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) and field excursions to collect marine and lake sediment cores and speleothems for palaeoclimate reconstructions. His research has demonstrated how past climate change affected ancient civilisations, such as the Maya and Indus Valley. Research by Hodell, Brenner, Curtis and Guilderson was instrumental in rethinking the

Maya Collapse In archaeology, the classic Maya collapse was the destabilization of Classic Maya civilization and the violent collapse and abandonment of many southern lowlands city-states between the 7th and 9th centuries CE. Not all Mayan city-states ...

. Climate data derived from core samples retrieved from closed lake systems in the Mexico's Yucátan and Guatemala showed a period of extensive drought. In 1995, Hodell, Curtis and Brenner published a

paleoclimate Paleoclimatology ( British spelling, palaeoclimatology) is the scientific study of climates predating the invention of meteorological instruments, when no direct measurement data were available. As instrumental records only span a tiny part of ...

record from Lake Chichancanab on the

Yucatán Peninsula The Yucatán Peninsula ( , ; ) is a large peninsula in southeast Mexico and adjacent portions of Belize and Guatemala. The peninsula extends towards the northeast, separating the Gulf of Mexico to the north and west of the peninsula from the C ...

that showed an intense, protracted drought occurred in the 9th century AD and coincided with the Classic Maya collapse. He has also made key contributions to understanding the Ice Age cycles of the Quaternary and their relationship to Earth’s orbit—for which he was awarded the Milutin Milanković Medal of the European Geophysical Union. More recent work has focused on the causes of rapid (millennial) climatic changes during the Quaternary using the extraordinary sedimentary archive preserved below the seafloor of the Iberian margin.

Awards and honours

* 2007 Fellow, American Geophysical Union * 2010 Emiliani Lecture, American Geophysical Union * 2013 Fellow, Geological Society of London * 2018

Milutin Milankovic Medal The Milutin Milankovic Medal is an annual award in Earth science presented by the European Geosciences Union (EGU). The award was introduced in 1993 by the European Geophysical Society (EGS). After a merger with the European Union of Geosciences ...

, European Geophysical Union * 2020 Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) * 2024

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

Selected works

* * * }

References

External links

University of Florida's Land Use and Environmental Change Institute (LUECI)University of Florida Department of Geological Sciences

David A. Hodell CV
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News article on Hodell's geological core research

"Millennial-Scale Instability of the Antarctic Ice Sheet During the Last Glacialization"
article by Hodell in ''

Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Hodell, David A. 1958 births Living people University of Florida faculty Fellows of the American Geophysical Union University of Rhode Island alumni University of Vermont alumni Fellows of Clare College, Cambridge American geologists Woodwardian Professors of Geology Fellows of the Royal Society