Antje Boe­t­ius is awar­ded the Ver­nad­sky Medal 2018

The Vladi­mir Ivan­ovich Ver­nad­sky Medal was es­tab­lished by the European Geosciences Union (EGU) in 2003 in re­cog­ni­tion of Ver­nad­sky’s sci­entific achieve­ments in min­er­alogy and geo­chem­istry. It is awar­ded to sci­ent­ists for their ex­cep­tional con­tri­bu­tions to biogeosciences in gen­eral. Antje Boe­t­ius is the first wo­man to re­ceive the award.

As an­nounced on the EGU web­site, this years’ medal hon­ours Boe­t­ius’ “sem­inal con­tri­bu­tions to our know­ledge of deep-sea eco­sys­tems, which will un­doubtedly have a last­ing im­pact on the field of geo­mic­ro­bi­o­logy”. Be­sides her sci­entific achieve­ments, Boe­t­ius’ many activ­it­ies as an ad­viser and tu­tor, ed­itor and pro­moter of sci­entific com­mu­nic­a­tion  have raised aware­ness for biogeosciences among poli­cy­makers and the gen­eral pub­lic. “She is a lu­minary of the geo­mic­ro­bi­o­logy com­munity through sci­entific in­nov­a­tion, sci­entific co­ordin­a­tion and in­teg­ra­tion, and ex­em­plary pub­lic re­la­tion ef­forts.”

The award ce­re­mony took place at the EGU Gen­eral As­sembly in Vi­enna on April 10, 2018. On the oc­ca­sion, Boe­t­ius will give a talk on “The ef­fects of en­vir­on­mental pres­sures on sea­floor com­munit­ies and their eco­lo­gical func­tions: Cop­ing with acid­i­fic­a­tion, hyp­oxia, min­ing”.

Announcement by the EGU