Martin David Brasier FGS, FLS (12 April 1947 – 16 December 2014) was an English palaeobiologist and astrobiologist known for his conceptual analysis of microfossils and

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

in the

Precambrian The Precambrian (or Pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pꞒ, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of th ...

and

Cambrian The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million years ag ...

. He was Professor of Palaeobiology at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

and Emeritus Fellow of

St Edmund Hall St Edmund Hall (sometimes known as The Hall or informally as Teddy Hall) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. The college claims to be "the oldest surviving academic society to house and educate undergraduates in any university ...

. His research critically examined the context and character of the early fossil record, making use of field mapping, logging, optical

petrography Petrography is a branch of petrology that focuses on detailed descriptions of rocks. Someone who studies petrography is called a petrographer. The mineral content and the textural relationships within the rock are described in detail. The classi ...

stable isotope The term stable isotope has a meaning similar to stable nuclide, but is preferably used when speaking of nuclides of a specific element. Hence, the plural form stable isotopes usually refers to isotopes of the same element. The relative abundanc ...

geochemistry Geochemistry is the science that uses the tools and principles of chemistry to explain the mechanisms behind major geological systems such as the Earth's crust and its oceans. The realm of geochemistry extends beyond the Earth, encompassing the ...

confocal microscopy Confocal microscopy, most frequently confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) or laser confocal scanning microscopy (LCSM), is an optical imaging technique for increasing optical resolution and contrast of a micrograph by means of using a s ...

, NanoSims

microprobe A microprobe is an instrument that applies a stable and well-focused beam of charged particles (electrons or ions) to a sample. Types When the primary beam consists of accelerated electrons, the probe is termed an electron microprobe, when the pr ...

s, and

lasers A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The firs ...

for high resolution 3D scanning and laser

Raman spectroscopy Raman spectroscopy () (named after Indian physicist C. V. Raman) is a spectroscopic technique typically used to determine vibrational modes of molecules, although rotational and other low-frequency modes of systems may also be observed. Raman s ...

. Brasier died in a car accident near

Burford Burford () is a town on the River Windrush, in the Cotswold hills, in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England. It is often referred to as the 'gateway' to the Cotswolds. Burford is located west of Oxford and southeast of Chelte ...

, Oxfordshire, UK, on 16 December 2014.

Contributions

His contributions include the Brasier– Schopf debate on critical testing of questionable 3460 Ma

Apex chert The Pilbara Craton is an old and stable part of the continental lithosphere located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The Pilbara Craton is one of only two pristine Archaean 3.6–2.7 Ga (billion years ago) crusts identified on the ...

' microfossils' at

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...

; work on the earliest well-preserved

fossils A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

cells (biology) The cell is the basic structural and functional unit of life forms. Every cell consists of a cytoplasm enclosed within a membrane, and contains many biomolecules such as proteins, DNA and RNA, as well as many small molecules of nutrients ...

(3430 Ma Strelley Pool); the

pumice Pumice (), called pumicite in its powdered or dust form, is a volcanic rock that consists of highly vesicular rough-textured volcanic glass, which may or may not contain crystals. It is typically light-colored. Scoria is another vesicular v ...

hypothesis for the

origins of life In biology, abiogenesis (from a- 'not' + Greek bios 'life' + genesis 'origin') or the origin of life is the natural process by which life has arisen from non-living matter, such as simple organic compounds. The prevailing scientific hypo ...

; mapping the earliest life on land (1000 Ma Torridonian); and the

palaeoecology Paleoecology (also spelled palaeoecology) is the study of interactions between organisms and/or interactions between organisms and their environments across geologic timescales. As a discipline, paleoecology interacts with, depends on and informs ...

, development and

Ediacaran The Ediacaran Period ( ) is a geological period that spans 96 million years from the end of the Cryogenian Period 635 million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Cambrian Period 538.8 Mya. It marks the end of the Proterozoic Eon, and t ...

early Cambrian The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million years ago ...

organisms. He was secretary and then leader of the

International Geoscience Programme The International Geoscience and Geoparks Programme (IGCP) is a cooperative enterprise of UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and the International Union of Geological Sciences The International Union ...

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. I ...

and

International Commission on Stratigraphy The International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), sometimes referred to unofficially as the "International Stratigraphic Commission", is a daughter or major subcommittee grade scientific daughter organization that concerns itself with stratigr ...

Projects on the

Boundary decision. This defined the base of the

Phanerozoic The Phanerozoic Eon is the current geologic eon in the geologic time scale, and the one during which abundant animal and plant life has existed. It covers 538.8 million years to the present, and it began with the Cambrian Period, when anima ...

Eon,

Palaeozoic The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838 by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ' ...

Era and Cambrian Period at a section in

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

based upon the appearance of the first assemblage of vertical burrowing animal

trace fossils A trace fossil, also known as an ichnofossil (; from el, ἴχνος ''ikhnos'' "trace, track"), is a fossil record of biological activity but not the preserved remains of the plant or animal itself. Trace fossils contrast with body fossils, ...

Treptichnus pedum ''Treptichnus'' (formerly named ''Phycodes'', ''Manykodes'' by J. Dzik, and also known as ''Trichophycus''See e.gfossiilid.info: paleodiversity in Baltoscandia: Trichophycus pedum/ref>) is the preserved burrow of an animal. As such, it is regar ...

'' The same datum also defines the top of the Precambrian and of the

Proterozoic The Proterozoic () is a geological eon spanning the time interval from 2500 to 538.8million years ago. It is the most recent part of the Precambrian "supereon". It is also the longest eon of the Earth's geologic time scale, and it is subdivided ...

Eon. His own book on the subject, ''Darwin's Lost World'' was published in 2009 as part of the

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

centenary celebrations. His sequel, called ''Secret Chambers'', goes in search of the symbiotic origins of the

eukaryote Eukaryotes () are organisms whose cells have a nucleus. All animals, plants, fungi, and many unicellular organisms, are Eukaryotes. They belong to the group of organisms Eukaryota or Eukarya, which is one of the three domains of life. Bact ...

chloroplast A chloroplast () is a type of membrane-bound organelle known as a plastid that conducts photosynthesis mostly in plant and algal cells. The photosynthetic pigment chlorophyll captures the energy from sunlight, converts it, and stores it ...

, tracing its evolution through the last two billion years, exploring the ideas of

Robert Hooke Robert Hooke FRS (; 18 July 16353 March 1703) was an English polymath active as a scientist, natural philosopher and architect, who is credited to be one of two scientists to discover microorganisms in 1665 using a compound microscope that h ...

, Elso Barghoorn, Tom Cavalier-Smith and

Lynn Margulis Lynn Margulis (born Lynn Petra Alexander; March 5, 1938 – November 22, 2011) was an American evolutionary biologist, and was the primary modern proponent for the significance of symbiosis in evolution. Historian Jan Sapp has said that "Lynn M ...

, and delving into the interval that Brasier dubbed 'the Boring Billion'.

Recent awards

* Lyell Medal, Geological Society of London, Burlington House, 2014 (for his research of early life) *

Society of Biology The Royal Society of Biology (RSB), previously called the Society of Biology, is a learned society and professional association in the United Kingdom created to advance the interests of biology in academia, industry, education, and research ...

first book awards nomination 2013 (for Secret Chambers)

Selected publications

*Landing, E., Geyer, G., Braser, M.D., and Bowring, S. A. 2013. Cambrian Evolutionary Radiation: centext, correlation, and chronostratigraphy - overcoming deficiencies of the First Appearance Datum (FAD)concept. '' Earth-Science Reviews (journal)'',123. 133-172 *Brasier, M.D., Matthewman, R., McMahon, S. and Wacey, D. 2011. Pumice as a remarkable substrate for the origins of life. ''

Astrobiology Astrobiology, and the related field of exobiology, is an interdisciplinary scientific field that studies the origins, early evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe. Astrobiology is the multidisciplinary field that investi ...

'', 7, 725-735 *Wacey, D., Kilburn, M., Saunders, M., Cliff, J. and Brasier, M.D. 2011. Microfossils of sulphur-metabolizing cells in 3.4-billion-year-old rocks of Western Australia. ''

Nature Geoscience ''Nature Geoscience'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the Nature Publishing Group. The Chief Editor is Tamara Goldin, who took over from Heike Langenberg in February 2020. It was established in January 2008. Scope The ...

'', 4, 698-702 *Strother, P.K., Battison, L., Brasier, M.D. & Wellman, C.H. 2011. Earth's earliest non-marine eukaryotes. ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans ar ...

''. 403, 505-509 *Brasier, M.D. & Antcliffe, J.B. 2009. Evolutionary relationships within the Avalonian Ediacara biota: new insights from Laser Analysis. ''

Journal of the Geological Society The ''Journal of the Geological Society '' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the Geological Society of London. It covers research in all aspects of the Earth sciences. References External links * Proceedings of the Geologica ...

'', 166, 363-384 *Brasier, M.D. & Antcliffe, J. 2004. Decoding the Ediacaran Enigma. ''

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

'' 305, 1115-1117 *Brasier, M.D., Green, O.R., Jephcoat, A.P., Kleppe, A.K., Van Kranendonk, M.J., Lindsay, J.F., Steele, A. & Grassineau, N.V. 2002. Questioning the evidence for Earth's oldest fossils. ''Nature'' 416, 76-81 *Brasier, M.D. & Lindsay, J.F. 1998. A billion years of environmental stability and the emergence of eukaryotes. New data from northern Australia. ''

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

'', 26, 555-558 *Brasier, M.D., Cowie, J.W. & Taylor, M.E. 1994. Decision on the Precambrian- Cambrian boundary stratotype. ''

Episodes Episodes may refer to: * Episode, a part of a dramatic work * ''Episodes'' (TV series), a British/American television sitcom which premiered in 2011 * ''Episodes'' (journal), a geological science journal * ''Episodes'' (ballet), a ballet by Ge ...

'', 17, 3–8. *Brasier, M.D. 1979. The Cambrian radiation event. In House, M.R. (ed.) 'The Origin of Major Invertebrate Groups'. ''

Systematics Association The Systematics Association (SystAss for short) is a charitable organisation based in the UK founded in 1937 for the promotion of the study of systematics and taxonomy. It publishes research, organises conferences, and provides competitive researc ...

Special Volume'', 12, 103-159

Books

*Brasier, M.D. 2012. ''Secret Chambers: the inside story of cells and complex life.''

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...

, 298pp. *Brasier, M.D. 2009. ''Darwin's Lost World: the hidden history of animal life.'' Oxford University Press, 322pp., *Cowie, J.W. and Brasier, M.D. 1989. ''The Precambrian-Cambrian Boundary'', Oxford Monographs in Geology and Geophysics, No. 12. *Brasier, MD. 1980. ''Microfossils''.

George Allen & Unwin George Allen & Unwin was a British publishing company formed in 1911 when Sir Stanley Unwin purchased a controlling interest in George Allen & Co. It went on to become one of the leading publishers of the twentieth century and to establish an ...

, London, 193pp.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brasier, Martin David 1947 births 2014 deaths Alumni of the University of London British palaeontologists Fellows of St Edmund Hall, Oxford People from Wimbledon, London Road incident deaths in England Astrobiologists Lyell Medal winners