Paula Jo Reimer is a radiocarbon and archaeological scientist. Reimer is the former director of the ¹⁴Chrono Centre for Climate, the Environment, and Chronology at

Queen's University Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

Biography

Reimer has a

BSc A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

in Physics (1974) and

MSc MSC may refer to: Computers * Message Sequence Chart * Microelectronics Support Centre of UK Rutherford Appleton Laboratory * MIDI Show Control * MSC Malaysia (formerly known as Multimedia Super Corridor) * USB mass storage device class (USB MSC ...

in Biophysics (1976) from

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

. She was awarded her PhD in Geological Sciences, working with

Minze Stuiver Minze Stuiver (October 25, 1929 – December 26, 2020) was a geochemist who was at the forefront of geoscience research from the 1960s until his retirement in 1998. He helped transform radiocarbon dating from a simple tool for archaeology and geol ...

, from

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

in 1998. She worked at the Quaternary Isotope Lab at Washington from 1977 to 1998, after which she moved to Queen's University Belfast for a

Postdoctoral fellowship A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to p ...

in 1998–2001. This was followed by a second postdoctoral fellowship at the

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is a federal research facility in Livermore, California, United States. The lab was originally established as the University of California Radiation Laboratory, Livermore Branch in 1952 in response ...

from 2001 to 2004. In 2004, she became director of the ¹⁴Chrono Centre at Queen's until her retirement in 2023. Paula's research has focussed around improving

radiocarbon dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon. The method was dev ...

and

calibration In measurement technology and metrology, calibration is the comparison of measurement values delivered by a device under test with those of a calibration standard of known accuracy. Such a standard could be another measurement device of know ...

, with a particular focus on understanding carbon cycling and radiocarbon reservoirs. Alongside

, she developed the first internationally-agreed radiocarbon age calibration curve (IntCal98) and provided the first freely-available software package (CALIB) to calibrate radiocarbon dates. From 2002-2020, Paula chaired the International Radiocarbon Calibration (INTCAL) Working Group. INTCAL provide (regular-updated) internationally-agreed radiocarbon calibration curves for the Northern and Southern Hemispheric Atmosphere (denoted IntCalXX and SHCalXX), and the global surface oceans (MarineXX), where XX denotes the year in which the update was provided. These calibration curves enable consistent and comparable radiocarbon dating across the life and environmental sciences. During Paula's tenure as chair, she oversaw the production of IntCal04, IntCal09, IntCal13, and IntCal20. The advances provided by these curves have extended

radiocarbon calibration Radiocarbon dating measurements produce ages in "radiocarbon years", which must be converted to calendar ages by a process called calibration. Calibration is needed because the atmospheric / ratio, which is a key element in calculating radiocarbon ...

to the technique’s limit 55,000 years ago.

Awards

Reimer was awarded the

Lyell Medal The Lyell Medal is a prestigious annual scientific medal given by the Geological Society of London, equal in status to the Murchison Medal. This medal is awarded based on one Earth Scientist's exceptional contribution of research to the scientific ...

from

The Geological Society The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe with more than 12,000 Fellows. Fe ...

in 2013. She was elected to the

Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ga, Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned socie ...

in 2014. In December 2020, Reimer was voted the 2021 'Archaeologist of the Year' in the annual

Current Archaeology ''Current Archaeology'' is a British monthly archaeology magazine. Summary ''Current Archaeology'' describes itself as the "United Kingdom's best selling archaeology magazine", a claim substantiated by British Archaeological Jobs and Resources o ...

awards. In 2021 Reimer was the recipient of the Pomerance Award for Scientific Contributions to Archaeology from the

Archaeological Institute of America The Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) is North America's oldest society and largest organization devoted to the world of archaeology. AIA professionals have carried out archaeological fieldwork around the world and AIA has established re ...

in recognition of her "distinguished record of contributions to the advancement of archaeological science". Reimer was the recipient of the James Croll Medal from the Quaternary Research Association in January 2022. In July 2022, she was appointed as Honorary Officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(OBE), for "services to Radiocarbon Dating, Calibration and Chronology".

Selected (key) publications

A full list of Reimer's publications can be foun
here
*Reimer P.J., Austin W.E.N., Bard E., Bayliss A., Blackwell P.G., Bronk Ramsey C., Butzin M., Cheng H., Edwards R.L., Friedrich M., Grootes P.M., Guilderson T.P., Hajdas I., Heaton T.J., Hogg A.G., Hughen K.A., Kromer B., Manning S.W., Muscheler R., Palmer J.G., Pearson C., van der Plicht J., Reimer R.W., Richards D.A., Scott E.M., Southon J.R., Turney C.S.M, Wacker L., Adolphi F., Büntgen U., Capano M., Fahrni S.M., Fogtmann-Schulz A., Friedrich R., Köhler P., Kudsk S., Miyake F., Olsen J., Reinig F., Sakamoto M., Sookdeo A., Talamo S. 2020. "The IntCal20 Northern Hemisphere Radiocarbon Age Calibration Curve (0–55 cal kBP)". ''Radiocarbon'' * Reimer PJ ''et al.'' 2013. IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0–50,000 years cal BP. ''Radiocarbon'' 55(4):1869–1887 *Reimer PJ ''et al.'' 2009. IntCal09 and Marine09 radiocarbon age calibration curves, 0–50,000 years cal BP. ''Radiocarbon'' 51(4):1111–50 *Reimer PJ ''et al.'' 2004 IntCal04 terrestrial radiocarbon age calibration, 0-26 cal kyr BP. ''Radiocarbon'' 46(3):1029–1058 *Stuiver M and Reimer PJ 1993 Extended 14C Data Base and Revised CALIB 3.0 14C Age Calibration Program ''Radiocarbon'' 35(1):215–230 *Stuiver M, Reimer PJ ''et al.'' 1998 INTCAL98 Radiocarbon Age Calibration, 24,000–0 cal BP. ''Radiocarbon'' 40(3):1041–1083 *Heaton TJ ''et al.'' Radiocarbon: A key tracer for studying Earth’s dynamo, climate system, carbon cycle, and Sun ''

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

(invited review)''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reimer, Paula Living people Members of the Royal Irish Academy Academics of Queen's University Belfast American women archaeologists Women climatologists Lyell Medal winners Iowa State University alumni University of Washington Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women Honorary Officers of the Order of the British Empire