Mark H. Thiemens is a renowned chemist and biochemist at UC San Diego, where he holds the John Dove Isaacs Endowed Chair in Natural Philosophy for Physical Sciences. His distinguished career began as an assistant professor at the Enrico Fermi Institute at the University of Chicago before he became the founding dean of physical sciences and chair of chemistry and biochemistry at UC San Diego.
Throughout his career, Thiemens has made significant contributions to the field of chemistry and biochemistry. He was the first to discover a chemical mass-independent isotope effect, which has been instrumental in understanding the origin of the solar system and quantifying life’s evolution over billions of years. His research has focused on greenhouse gas emissions, past and present climate change, and Earth’s chemistry. Additionally, he has conducted studies on past climates and chemistry using ice samples from various regions such as the South Pole, Arctic, and Tibet. Furthermore, he has worked on developing rocket-based samplers for the upper atmosphere and exploring the quantum mechanical basis of isotope effects through synchrotron-based experiments.
Thiemens’ accomplishments have not gone unnoticed. He has received numerous awards throughout his career, including two Humboldt Fellowships, the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award, the Goldschmidt Medal, and the Leonard Medal. He is also a member of several prestigious scientific organizations such as the National Academy of Sciences and American Association for Advancement of Science. In addition to these accolades, an asteroid has even been named in his honor (Asteroid 7004 Markthiemens).
