George H. Denton (born 14 December 1939 in

Medford, Massachusetts Medford is a city northwest of downtown Boston on the Mystic River in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the time of the 2020 U.S. Census, Medford's population was 59,659. It is home to Tufts University, which has its campus alo ...

, USA) is a Professor of Geological Sciences and Quaternary Studies at the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine or UMO) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universities, flagshi ...

Biography

Denton earned his Ph.D. at the

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

in 1965, and was the first scientist from the University of Maine elected to the National Academy of Sciences. His primary interest is the geological history of large ice sheets and smaller mountain glaciers, and in particular the role of these ice sheets in Quaternary and late-Tertiary ice ages. He also focuses on the abrupt ocean-atmosphere reorganizations in glacial cycles. One current project (2015) deals with the Quaternary and late Tertiary history of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Studies of late Quaternary glacial deposits elucidate the role of the Antarctic Ice Sheet during the last few ice ages. Studies of late Tertiary deposits bear on fundamental climatic changes that preceded Quaternary ice ages. Recent projects involved reconstruction of Northern Hemisphere ice sheets during the last ice age. Another project deals with the alpine glacier history of the Chilean Andes. He led a party of scientists doing field studies in Chile in 1991–99, and in New Zealand in 2000–08 together with his close colleague throughout his career, the late Norwegian Quaternary geologist Professor

Bjørn G. Andersen Bjørn Grothaug Andersen (23 March 1924 in Norway, 1924, in Stavanger, Norway – 12 January 2012 in Norway, 2012, in Asker, Norway) was a Norwegians, Norwegian professor of Quaternary geology and glaciology who made foundational contributio ...

of the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

. Denton has been widely acclaimed for his research in glacial geology and the

Denton Glacier Denton Glacier () is a small hanging glacier which drains the northwest slopes of Mount Newall and terminates on the south wall of Wright Valley, Victoria Land. It was named by U.S. geologist Robert Nichols for George H. Denton, geological assist ...

and the

Denton Hills The Denton Hills () are a group of rugged foothills, 24 nautical miles (44 km) long southwest–northeast and 9 nautical miles (17 km) wide, to the east of the Royal Society Range on the Scott Coast, Victoria Land. The feature comprises a ...

in Antarctica were named in his honor. In 1990, he received the prestigious Vega Medal (Gold) from the

Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography The Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography (SSAG; sv, Svenska Sällskapet för Antropologi och Geografi) is a scientific learned society founded in December 1877. It was established after a rearrangement of various sections of the Anthropo ...

and in 1996 he was elected to the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special ...

. Denton's research has inspired several generations of students, many of whom have picked up researching in Earth Science.

Honors

*1990: Recipient of the Vega Medal (Gold) from the

*1996: Elected to the

*2002: Elected to the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

References

External links

SelectedWorks of George H. Denton

Glacier History of the New Zealand Southern Alps
by George H. Denton at Climate Change Institute at the

American glaciologists 1939 births Living people Quaternary geologists Yale University alumni Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences University of Maine faculty People from Orono, Maine 20th-century American geologists 21st-century American geologists 21st-century American scientists {{Glaciologist-stub