Peter John Barrett (born 11 August 1940) is a New Zealand

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

who came to prominence after discovering the first

tetrapod Tetrapods (; ) are four-limbed vertebrate animals constituting the superclass Tetrapoda (). It includes extant and extinct amphibians, sauropsids ( reptiles, including dinosaurs and therefore birds) and synapsids (pelycosaurs, extinct theraps ...

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 in ...

in Antarctica in 1967.

Early life and family

Barrett was born in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

on 11 August 1940, and educated at Hamilton High School. He went on to study at Auckland University College from 1958 to 1962, graduating

Bachelor of Science 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 1961, and

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

in 1963. The title of his master's thesis was ''The Te Kuiti group in the Waitomo-Te Anga area : a study of structures, sedimentation and paleogeography of calcareous sediments''. Barrett married Maxine Frances Stone in 1977; the couple had six children.

Scientific career

Barrett first went to Antarctica with the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

in 1962, but it was during his PhD with the Institute of Polar Studies at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

in 1966 and 1968 that Barrett discovered the early

Triassic period The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period ...

tetrapod remains. His 1968 doctoral thesis at the Institute of Polar Studies had the title ''The post-glacial Permian and Triassic Beacon rocks in the Beardmore Glacier area, central Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica''. After finishing his PhD, he took up a postdoctoral fellowship at

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well know ...

to run an

Antarctic expedition This list of Antarctic expeditions is a chronological list of expeditions involving Antarctica. Although the existence of a southern continent had been hypothesized as early as the writings of Ptolemy in the 1st century AD, the South Pole was no ...

. Recent research has been core sampling in the

Antarctic The Antarctic ( or , American English also or ; commonly ) is a polar region around Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica, the Kerguelen Plateau and other ...

to determine historical conditions. He is currently a professor in the

Antarctic Research Centre The Antarctic Research Centre (ARC) is part of the School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences at Victoria University of Wellington. Its mission is to research "Antarctic climate history and processes, and their influence on the global clima ...

(ARC) at Victoria University of Wellington, and was director of the ARC from its founding in 1972 until 2007. One of his PhD students was Nancy Bertler. For many years he was the

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

representative on the

Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research The Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) is an interdisciplinary body of the International Science Council (ISC). SCAR coordinates international scientific research efforts in Antarctica, including the Southern Ocean. SCAR's scien ...

(SCAR). Barrett's notable students include Nancy Bertler and

Rob McKay Robert Murray McKay is a paleoceanographer who specialises in sedimentology, stratigraphy and palaeoclimatology, specifically gathering geological evidence to study how marine-based portions of the Antarctic ice sheet behave in response to ...

Awards and honours

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

, Barrett was awarded the Polar Medal, for good services as a member of New Zealand expeditions to Antarctica in 1974–1975. In 2004, he received the

Marsden Medal The Marsden Medal is a yearly award given by the New Zealand Association of Scientists. It is named after Sir Ernest Marsden and honours "a lifetime of outstanding service to the cause or profession of science, in recognition of service rendere ...

for his lifetime contributions to science in New Zealand. In 2006, he received the SCAR President's Medal for outstanding achievement in Antarctic science. In 2008, following the death of its patron

Sir Edmund Hillary Sir Edmund Percival Hillary (20 July 1919 – 11 January 2008) was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer, and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953, Hillary and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers confirmed to have reached t ...

, the

New Zealand Antarctic Society New Zealand Antarctic Society was formed in 1933 by New Zealand businessman Arthur Leigh Hunt and Antarctic explorers Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd and Sir Douglas Mawson Sir Douglas Mawson OBE FRS FAA (5 May 1882 – 14 October 1958) ...

invited Barrett to become the new patron, which he accepted. In the

2010 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2010 were announced on 31 December 2009 in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Cook Islands, Barbados, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Saint Lucia, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Christopher and NevisSaint Christ ...

, Barrett was awarded the

New Zealand Antarctic Medal The New Zealand Antarctic Medal was created 1 September 2006, as a New Zealand royal honour to replace the British Polar Medal. History The Polar Medal was instituted in 1904 and awarded to those who had made notable contributions to the explor ...

for services to Antarctic science. He was made an Honorary Fellow of the Geological Society in 2011.

Barrett Glacier Shackleton Glacier is a major Antarctic glacier, over long and from 8 to 16 km (5 to 10 mi) wide, descending from the polar plateau from the vicinity of Roberts Massif and flowing north through the Queen Maud Mountains to enter the Ros ...

in the

Prince Olav Mountains The Prince Olav Mountains is a mountain range of the Queen Maud Mountains in Antarctica stretching from Shackleton Glacier to Liv Glacier at the head of the Ross Ice Shelf. Discovered in 1911 by Roald Amundsen on the way to the South Pole, and ...

of Antarctica was named by the southern party of the 1963–1964

New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition The New Zealand Geological Survey Antarctic Expedition (NZGSAE) describes a series of scientific explorations of the continent Antarctica. The expeditions were notably active throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Features named by the expeditions 1957 ...

for Barrett, who was the party's geologist.

External links

Information page at Antarctic Research Centre

References

"History – Antarctic Research Centre." Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, 2010. http://www.victoria.ac.nz/antarctic/about/history.aspx. Retrieved 22 October 2011. "Older News – Antarctic Research Centre." Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, 2010. http://www.victoria.ac.nz/antarctic/about/history.aspx. Retrieved 22 October 2011. {{DEFAULTSORT:Barrett, Peter 1940 births Living people Academic staff of Victoria University of Wellington Ohio State University alumni People from Hamilton, New Zealand 20th-century New Zealand geologists Recipients of the New Zealand Antarctic Medal New Zealand Antarctic scientists People educated at Hamilton Boys' High School University of Auckland alumni New Zealand recipients of the Polar Medal 21st-century New Zealand geologists