Person Compston; William (1931-2025); geophysicist Compston William geophysicist 1931-2025 Australian Male Western Australia, Australia 19 February 1931 19310219 Australia 16 May 2025 20250516

Geophysicist Geochronology Physics Geology Isotope geochemistry Geochemistry Education: University of Western Australia (UWA) BSc 1951; PhD 1957; DSc 1988 Career: Lived in Perth at his father's butcher shop; on the death of his father the shop was sold and the family went to visit relatives in Melbourne, becoming trapped there by wartime restrictions on travel to Perth (1943); introduced to geology by one of his brothers and pursued the subject at higher education level; focused on the isotopic composition of carbon in rocks (1953); awarded a Fulbright Fellowship, California Institute of Technology, where he continued his work on stable isotopes in collaboration with Sam Epstein, using the isotopic composition of oxygen to infer the temperature at which fossil shells had grown; spent three months at the Carnegie Institute Department of Terrestrial Magnetism (DTM) where he was taught methods for dating rocks using the U-Pb, Rb-Sr and K-Ar decay schemes; returned to the University of Western Australia (UWA) as a lecturer in Physics; joined the Department of Geophysics at the ANU and in collaboration with the Bureau of Mineral Resources (BMR) set up the laboratory and mass spectrometer necessary for Rb-Sr dating and started on a program of dating Australian rocks (1960s); chosen by NASA to date rocks brought back by Apollo 11 astronauts (1969); worked with Steve Clement, designer of the high sensitivity mass spectrometer used for dating the lunar samples; Emeritus Professor, Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University. Memberships: FAA FTSE Awards/Medals: Mawson Medal and Lecture of the Australian Academy of Science 1988 Matthew Flinders Medal and Lecture of the Australian Academy of Science 1998 Centenary Medal from the Government of Australia 2001 Spouse: Elizabeth Compston Distinguished for his contributions to isotope geochemistry and geochronology. A pioneer of the technique of total rock rubidium-strontium dating and has been responsible for much of the systematic geochronology of the Australian continent. Made major contributions to cosmochemistry including successful Rb/Sr dating of the first Apollo 11 lunar mare basalts, the strontium isotope chemistry of mare basalts generally and discoveries of isotopic anomalies in magnesium and titanium from the Allende meteorite. These latter discoveries have important implications for the origin and evolution of the primordial solar nebula. Recently he designed and constructed an ion-probe microanalyzer possessing unique resolution and sensitivity. This has been used successfully to measure lead/uranium ages on zircons and to characterize the ages and provenance of the source materials of granitic plutons. Fellow 19/03/1987 56 The Royal Society Fellows Directory, Professor William Compston FRS, [URL: https://royalsociety.org/people/william-compston-11255/; last accessed: 03/09/2025] McCulloch, M., & Williams, I. (2025). William Compston FAA FTSE FRS (19 February 1931 – 16 May 2025). Journal of The Royal Society of Western Australia, 108, [URL: doi.org/​10.70880/​001c.140863; last accessed: 03/09/2025] Australian National University, Research School of Earth Sciences, News & Events, Vale Bill Compston, Thursday 22 May 2025, Summarized by Ian Williams, RSES, [URL: https://earthsciences.anu.edu.au/news-events/news/vale-bill-compston; last accessed: 03/09/2025] International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) - Ottawa 1996 ISBN 0-9696035-3-3 National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997 19 Feb 1931 - The past Fellows entries are under continuous revision. If you have queries or additional information to contribute, please contact Library@royalsociety.org. Content in external sources is not controlled by the Royal Society and historical sources may include content that is now unacceptable. Reviewed on 03/09/2025 as part of the Name Authority Project update. NA3883 21/11/2001 Andyg Pmab 03/09/2025 RS_NET\VidaM Yes 05487b74-df73-4c03-b499-2cd23c7b5e8f