Charles Langmuir

Much of my energy at Harvard was directed towards acting in and directing plays.  Then over Christmas of my junior year I discovered Geology and it won out as a career choice.  I went to grad school at SUNY Stony Brook and had the luck of a wonderful advisor.  After a post-doc at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University I joined the faculty there for 20 years until I was lured away by Harvard in 2000.  My research has focused on volcanoes on land and undersea.  Most recently we have had some large projects exploring the feedbacks between volcanism and climate. Spending close to two cumulative years at sea working with large teams 24/7 has been a thrilling adventure, as every cruise is a voyage of discovery. Through teaching I became interested in the broadest questions of Earth Science, and wrote a book with Wally Broecker, How to Build a Habitable Planet, which looks at planetary evolution writ large, from the Big Bang to current environmental challenges. The book is widely used in introductory earth science courses and received honorable mention for best Earth Science book of 2012. My scientific work has been recognized by election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences as well as top awards from the European Union of Geochemistry, the American Geophysical Union, the European Geophysical Union and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. I am currently working on a book for the general public on the place of human beings in the context of planetary evolution.