EGU Blogs

348 search results for "black in science"

TS
Tectonics and Structural Geology

Marguerite Thomas Williams: The US’ first black person to obtain a doctorate in Geology

August 26, 2020
Marguerite Thomas Williams: The US’ first black person to obtain a doctorate in Geology

    On the day of Christmas Eve, five years before the turn of the century, Marguerite Thomas Williams (December 1895 – August 1991) was born. She was the youngest of her five siblings born to her parents Henry and Clara Thomas. We don’t know much about her early life. Perhaps her older brothers and sisters would take her by the hand when walking to school, maybe the family would g ...[Read More]

SM
Seismology

What’s it like to be black in academia?

August 19, 2020
What’s it like to be black in academia?

Maria, a member of our ECS team, recently interviewed Professor Christopher Jackson from Imperial College, London, UK. The idea of this interview arose after protests swept across the US, triggered by the murder of George Floyd. Resurfacing the recurring and unsolved issue of racial biases, these protests highlighted that fact that racial inequality is not only present in everyday life, but that i ...[Read More]

Geology for Global Development

What role should academic institutions be playing in changing people’s perception towards Geosciences?

March 4, 2020
What role should academic institutions be playing in changing people’s perception towards Geosciences?

During her time at a mining school Hannah Ritchie wondered why the GfGD society membership was so low. How do people perceive geology’s ability to contribute to a sustainable future? Hannah explores the traditional and changing reputation of geology and the roles academic institutions could play in directing this change. [Editor’s note: This post reflects Hannah’s personal opinions. These opinions ...[Read More]

GeoLog

September GeoRoundUp: the best of the Earth sciences from around the web

October 2, 2019
September GeoRoundUp: the best of the Earth sciences from around the web

Drawing inspiration from popular stories on our social media channels, major geoscience headlines, as well as unique and quirky research, this monthly column aims to bring you the latest Earth and planetary science news from around the web. Major stories Latest IPCC report puts the oceans and cryosphere in focus Last month the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) releas ...[Read More]

GeoLog

Geosciences Column: How erupting African volcanoes impact the Amazon’s atmosphere

July 12, 2019
Geosciences Column: How erupting African volcanoes impact the Amazon’s atmosphere

When volcanoes erupt, they can release into the atmosphere a number of different gases initially stored in their magma, such as carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, and sulfur dioxide. These kinds of gases can have a big influence on Earth’s atmosphere, even at distances hundreds to thousands of kilometres away. A team of researchers have found evidence that sulfur emissions from volcanic eruptions i ...[Read More]

TS
Tectonics and Structural Geology

Lisbon at the dawn of modern geosciences

November 3, 2018
Lisbon at the dawn of modern geosciences

Here, where the land ends and the sea begins... Luís de Camões (Portuguese poet) Lisbon. Spilled over the silver Tagus River, it is known by its beautiful low light, incredible food and friendly people. Here, cultures met, and poets dreamed, as navigators gathered to plan their journeys to old and new worlds. Fustigated by one of the greatest disasters the world has ever witnessed, Lisbon is inter ...[Read More]

GeoLog

Geosciences Column: How climate change put a damper on the Maya civilisation

October 25, 2018
Geosciences Column: How climate change put a damper on the Maya civilisation

More than 4,000 years ago, when the Great Pyramid of Giza and Stonehenge were being built, the Maya civilisation emerged in Central America. The indigenous group prospered for thousands of years until its fall in the 13th century (potentially due to severe drought). However, thousands of years before this collapse, severely soggy conditions lasting for many centuries likely inhibited the civilisat ...[Read More]

SM
Seismology

Palu 2018 – Science and surprise behind the earthquake and tsunami

October 8, 2018

On September 28, 2018, a powerful 7.5-magnitude earthquake and an unexpected tsunami shook the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, leaving behind catastrophic results and open questions among geoscientists. How come this event is having such an impact on the scientific community?   What we know so far On Friday afternoon (at around 5pm Western Indonesian Time) the Minahassa Peninsula on Sulawesi i ...[Read More]

CL
Climate: Past, Present & Future

What can artificial intelligence do for climate science?

September 26, 2018
What can artificial intelligence do for climate science?

What is machine learning? Artificial Intelligence, and its subfield of machine learning, is a very trending topic as it plays an increasing role in our daily life. Examples are: translation programs, speech recognition software in mobile phones and automatic completion of search queries. However, what value do these new techniques have for climate science? And how complicated is it to use them? Th ...[Read More]