Peter Barrett (researcher)

Peter Barrett, NZAM, is a geologist who first rose to fame for discovering the first tetrapod fossils in Antarctica in 1967.[1]

Barrett first went to the Antarctica with the University of Wisconsin in 1962, but it was during his PhD with the Institute of Polar Studies at Ohio State University in 1966 and 1968 that Barrett discovered the early Triassic period tetrapod remains. After finishing his PhD, he took up a postdoctoral fellowship at Victoria University of Wellington to run an Antarctic expedition. Recent research has been core sampling in the Antarctic to determine historical conditions.[2]

He is currently professor in the Antarctic Research Centre at Victoria University of Wellington and was director of the ARC from its founding in 1972 until 2007.[3] For many years he was the New Zealand representative on Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research.[4]

Awards and Honors

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Peter Barrett and Antarctica". nzhistory.net.nz. 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2011. New Zealander Peter Barrett discovered the first tetrapod remains in Antarctica in 1967. Subsequent research that identified the remains provided the first evidence that land vertebrates had roamed Antarctica when its climate was warm, and lent support to the then controversial theories of continental drift and Gondwanaland. But Barrett's contribution to Antarctic science goes beyond his ‘serendipitous discovery' as a doctoral student. He has also been acknowledged as the 'supremo' of the geological drilling community in the Antarctic for his work in this area from the 1970s onwards.
  2. ↑ "Antarctica — National Library of New Zealand". natlib.govt.nz. 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2011. These early projects eventually led to the multi-national Cape Roberts Project, headed by Barrett, now the director of the Antarctic Research Centre at Victoria University. During the late 1990s, three holes drilled near the edge of the mountains recovered a remarkable ‘sedimentary tape recorder’, confirming that massive ice sheets have covered Antarctica since around 34 million years ago. However, the ice cover was highly dynamic, coming and going in response to perturbations in the Earth’s orbit, known as Milankovitch cycles, which affect the amount of radiation the planet receives. For the past 15 million years, the size of the ice cap has been relatively stable.
  3. ↑ "History - Antarctic Research Centre." Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, 2010. http://www.victoria.ac.nz/antarctic/about/history.aspx. Retrieved 2011-10-22.
  4. 1 2 "Geological Society - Prof Peter Barrett". geolsoc.org.uk. 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
  5. 1 2 "Older News - Antarctic Research Centre." Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, 2010. http://www.victoria.ac.nz/antarctic/about/history.aspx. Retrieved 2011-10-22.
  6. ↑ "SCAR (Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research)". scar.org. 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
  7. ↑ "Victoria University Professor Peter Barrett Wins Prestigious Award". stuff.co.nz. 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2011. Professor Barrett has been made an Honorary Fellow of the prestigious Geological Society of London, a title held by only 70 people worldwide.
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