Person Turner; Grenville (1936 - 2024); geochemist Turner Grenville geochemist 1936 - 2024 British Male Todmorden, Upper Calder Valley, Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England 01/11/1936 19361101 Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England 22/08/2024 20240822

Geochemist Cosmology Isotope geochemistry Physics Astronomy Materials Science Geochemistry Education: Todmorden Grammar School; St. John's College, Cambridge (MA); Balliol College, Oxford DPhil (1962). Career: Assistant Professor, University of California, Berkeley (1962–64); lecturer in physics (1964–74), senior lecturer (1974–79), reader (1979–80), professor (1980–88), University of Sheffield; Research Associate, Caltech (1970-71); Professor of isotope geochemistry, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Manchester (1988-2004); died following dianosis of grade IV astrocytoma in 2022. Memberships: Geochemical Society and European Association of Geochemistry 1996 Meteoritical Society 1980 American Geophysical Union 1998 Awards/Medals: Leonard Medal of the Meteoritical Society 1999 Urey Medal of the European Association of Geochemistry 2002 Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society for geophysics 2004 Spouse: Kate Morris, English teacher (m. 1961). Children: Charlotte and Patrick. Best known for his use of isotopes in the investigation of Solar System history. He invented (with Craig Merrihue) the argon-40/argon-39 method of radioactive dating and pioneered its application to terrestrial and extraterrestrial samples. By this method, Grenville obtained the first precise potassium/argon ages of the Apollo rocks, on which the remarkably complete chrononology of the early events in lunar history has been based, especially the early bombardment and basin formation, and the evolution of mare basalts. Invented the argon-38/argon-37 method of cosmic ray dating, which provided ages of young impact craters, making the photogeological age scale of lunar surface evolution quantitative. He developed similar methods for combining noble gas and halogen measurements in terrestrial ground waters. Grenville (with John Reynolds) discovered nucleosynthetic isotope anomalies in xenon present in meteoritic nanodiamonds, which predate the formation of the Solar System. He developed a new mass spectrometer based on resonance ionisation and used it to measure iodine-129/iodine-127 ages of primitive meteorites and to discover xenon from extinct plutonium-244 in ancient terrestrial zircons. Royal Society roles: Council: 1990-1992 Medals and prizes: Rumford Medal 1996 Committees and Panels: Sectional Committee 5: Earth & environmental sciences 2006-2009 Physical Sciences Awards Committee 1998-2001 Sectional Committee 5: Earth & environmental sciences 1994-1997 Research Appointment Panel A(i) 1994-1996 Fellow 20/03/1980 43 The Royal Society Fellows Directory, Professor Grenville Turner FRS, [URL: https://royalsociety.org/people/grenville-turner-12442/; last accessed: 19/02/2025] The Guardian, Grenville Turner Obituary, Mick O'Hare, 20 September 2024, [URL: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/sep/20/grenville-turner-obituary; last accessed: 19/02/2025] 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 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/action/doSearch?ContribAuthorRaw=Turner%2C+Grenville RCN R69654 1 Nov 1936 - 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 19/02/2025 as part of the Name Authority Project update. NA3934 21/11/2001 Andyg Martind 06/05/2025 RS_NET\VirginiaM Yes 1b15c3ec-94f1-438b-942e-11b011537ad4