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Tullis Onstott

American geologist (1955–2021) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Tullis Onstott (January 12, 1955 – October 19, 2021) was a professor of geosciences at Princeton University who has done research into endolithic life deep under the Earth's surface. In 2011 he co-discovered Halicephalobus mephisto, a nematode worm living 0.9–3.6 km (0.56–2.24 mi) under the ground,[2] the deepest multicellular organism known to science. He won a LExEN Award for his work "A Window Into the Extreme Environment of Deep Subsurface Microbial Communities: Witwatersrand Deep Microbiology Project".[3] In 2007, Onstott was listed among Time Magazine's 100 most influential people in the world.[4]

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Life and education

Onstott attended the California Institute of Technology and was awarded a B.S. in Geophysics in 1976. He later moved to Princeton University to earn a M.A. in 1978 and later a Ph.D. in 1980, both in Geology, under the direction of Robert B. Hargraves.[5] After receiving his doctoral degree, Onstott, spent the next three years as a postdoctoral fellow in Derek York's laboratory at the University of Toronto performing research involving 40Ar/39Ar geochronology, before returning to Princeton as a professor.[6] Onstott died October 19, 2021, after a long illness.[7]

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Research

Research projects include:[8]

  • South African Deep Microbiology: characterizing the microbiology and geochemistry of continental crust down to 5 km (3.1 mi).[9]
  • Indiana-Princeton-Tennessee Astrobiology Institute: preparing for the search for life beneath the surface of Mars.
  • Natural Earthquake Laboratory in South African Mines: installed a field laboratory at 3.8 km (2.4 mi) depth, exploring the relationship between seismic activity and microbial diversity and activity.
  • Anaerobic biostimulation for the in situ precipitation and long-term sequestration of metal sulphides.

The first two research projects were done in collaboration with stable isotope biogeochemist and colleague Lisa Pratt of Indiana University.[10]

His work on these projects and others is detailed in his book Deep Life: The Hunt for the Hidden Biology of Earth, Mars, and Beyond published by Princeton University Press in 2016.[11]

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References

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