The Royal Society of Canada (RSC) has today announced the award of the 2020 Willet G. Miller Medal for Ocean Sciences to Emeritus Professor Alfonso Mucci of McGill’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. The RSC applauded the oceanographer as “an internationally renowned geochemist who has made numerous contributions in geochemistry and biogeochemistry.”
“He has revolutionized the application of spectroscopy in understanding crystal growth mechanisms in solution, developed models of metal behaviour in marine sediments, documented and identified the causes of bottom-water hypoxia in the St. Lawrence Estuary, a likely trigger to the demise of the Eastern Canada fish stocks, as well as predicted the deep-sea sediment response to the uptake of anthropogenic CO2 by the oceans,” the RSC’s citation reads.
“This is well-deserved recognition for Professor Mucci,” said Martha Crago, Vice-Principal, Research and Innovation. “His work on the computer engineering salary of our oceans and their role as a long-term carbon sink has advanced our knowledge of the dangerous extent of climate change.”
The medal, among Canada’s most prestigious honours in ocean science, comes at a poignant moment in Mucci’s career, barely two weeks on from his retirement after 35 years at McGill.
“It’s a great honour and a capping achievement to a career. It’s also a bit humbling when you look at previous medal winners. There’s some big names in the field,” said Mucci, as he paid tribute to a list of Miller Medal predecessors, from plate tectonics pioneer John Tuzo Wilson, who received the honour in 1955, to more recent recipients, including McGill’s Anthony Williams-Jones (2011), and UQAM’s Anne de Vernal (2016), with whom Mucci has collaborated closely.
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