Rate My Professor Gerhard Schmiedl

Prof. Dr. Gerhard Schmiedl is Professor for Micropaleontology in the Geoscience faculty at Universität Hamburg (UHH), a position he has held since 2006. He leads the Micropalaeontology research group in the Institute of Geology, investigating marine environmental variability using micropaleontological and geochemical proxies. His work focuses on benthic ecosystem dynamics in marginal seas and oceans influenced by climatic and oceanographic changes, encompassing the diversity, ecology, and stable isotope composition of extant foraminifera from the Atlantic, Indian, Mediterranean, and North Seas. Schmiedl applies this expertise to reconstruct Holocene, Pleistocene, and Neogene climate and ocean circulation, developing proxies for deep-water oxygenation, organic carbon fluxes, and sea level. Key projects include Red Sea deep-water ventilation over 200,000 years, African-Asian monsoon margins, North African humid periods of the last 130,000 years, and short-term climate dynamics in the Gulf of Taranto.

Schmiedl earned a Diplom in Geology and Paleontology from the University of Würzburg (1985-1991), a PhD from the University of Bremen (2001) on late Quaternary deep-water circulation and productivity in the eastern South Atlantic via benthic foraminiferal assemblages, and a Habilitation from the University of Tübingen (2001) on climatic forcing of deep-sea ecosystems using recent and fossil benthic foraminifera. His career trajectory features a Heisenberg Fellowship (2002-2006) across the University of Leipzig, Ohio State University, and Université d’Angers; Assistant Professor at Leipzig (2001-2002); postdoctoral fellowships at Ohio State University (1998-1999) and research associate roles at the University of Tübingen and Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine Research (1995-1998). Extensive field experience includes research cruises to Antarctica, Red Sea, Arabian Sea, Caribbean, and Mediterranean. Awards encompass the Heisenberg Fellowship (2002-2005), Ohio State University Postdoctoral Fellowship (1998-1999), Annette-Barthelt Award for marine research (1992), and Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes fellowships. Prominent publications include “Stable carbon isotopes in paleoceanography: Atmosphere, oceans, and sediments” (Earth-Science Reviews, 2019, with A. Mackensen); “Glacial-interglacial changes in bottom-water oxygen content on the Portuguese margin” (Nature Geoscience, 2015); and “Oxygenation changes in the deep western Arabian Sea during the last 190,000 years” (Paleoceanography, 2005). A member of the Paläontologische Gesellschaft, Cushman Foundation, Micropaleontological Society, and Deutscher Hochschulverband, Schmiedl’s contributions have advanced paleoceanographic and paleoclimatic reconstructions.