Rate My Professor Francis Albarede

Francis Albarède is an eminent isotope geochemist and Distinguished Wiess Visiting Scholar in the Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences at Rice University, where he also holds an associate professor position. Primarily Professor Emeritus of Geochemistry at the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon since 2015, he has been affiliated with Rice as Wiess Visiting Professor since 2008. His academic journey began with studies in natural sciences at the University of Montpellier in the 1960s, followed by a Maîtrise in 1968, Thèse 3ème Cycle from Faculté de Paris 6 in 1971, and PhD from University of Paris 7 in 1976. Albarède defended his graduate thesis in geochemistry in 1972 at IPGP Paris under Claude Allègre, serving there as teacher-researcher. After a state thesis in isotopic geochemistry in 1976 and two years in the United States, he became professor at the National School of Geology in Nancy in 1979 for 12 years, before joining ENS Lyon in 1991.

Albarède's research focuses on trace elements, radiogenic isotope geochemistry, and geochronology, pioneering stable isotope applications in deep Earth processes, continental origins, planetary geochemistry, nuclear geochemistry, early Earth evolution, origin of life, and stable metal isotopes in biology, medicine, archaeology, and history. Key publications include the highly cited "The Lu-Hf isotope geochemistry of chondrites and the evolution of the mantle-crust system" (Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 1997), "Precise analysis of copper and zinc isotopic compositions by plasma-source mass spectrometry" (Chemical Geology, 1999), "A short timescale for terrestrial planet formation from Hf–W chronometry of meteorites" (Nature, 2002), and books "Introduction to Geochemical Modeling" (1995) and "Geochemistry: An Introduction" (2003, second edition 2009). His collaborations at Rice have advanced insights into Earth’s early mantle chemistry and lunar volatiles. Among numerous honors, he received the inaugural Nemmers Prize in Earth Sciences (2018) for fundamental geochemical applications, election to the French Académie des Sciences (2022), Légion d'Honneur (2008), V.M. Goldschmidt Award (2008), and CNRS Silver Medal (1988). Albarède's influential work shapes modern Geoscience.