Mark H. Thiemens is a distinguished professor of chemistry and biochemistry at UC San Diego, where he holds the John Dove Isaacs Endowed Chair in Natural Philosophy for Physical Sciences. His 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.
One of Thiemens’ major contributions to the field was the discovery of a chemical mass-independent isotope effect, which has significant applications in understanding the origin of the solar system and quantifying life’s evolution over billions of years. He also conducted research on greenhouse gas emissions, past and present climate change, Earth’s chemistry, and past climates using ice samples from various regions such as the South Pole, Arctic, and Tibet. Additionally, Thiemens designed rocket-based samplers for the upper atmosphere and explored the quantum mechanical basis of isotope effects through synchrotron-based experiments.
Throughout his career, Thiemens has received many prestigious accolades including two Humboldt Fellowships, Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award, Goldschmidt Medal and Leonard Medal. He is a member of National Academy of Sciences and American Academy of Arts and Sciences along with being a fellowship from several other organizations such as American Association for Advancement Science (AAAS), American Geophysical Union (AGU), Meteoritical Society (MS), Chemical Society (CS) and European Association for Geochemistry (EAG). An asteroid named after him exists in our solar system (Asteroid 7004 Markthiemens).
