Dr. Glenn W. Berger
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Dr. Glenn W. Berger |
Desert Research Institute's highest annual recognition for scientific accomplishment by a research faculty member—the Alessandro Dandini Medal of Science—will be awarded to Dr. Glenn W. Berger later this year, according to DRI President Dr. Stephen G. Wells. One of the world's foremost scientists in luminescence dating, Berger's distinguished career began before his arrival at DRI in 1994. His international reputation for research in geological and environmental sciences has continued to gain momentum thanks to his work in geochronology, geoarcheology, paleoenvironmental records, applied environmental studies and optical dating.
A research professor in the Division of Earth and Ecosystem Sciences, Berger's career spans two distinct research areas. In the 1970s, he was one of a handful of pioneers in argon-argon geochronology, an absolute-time dating technique in which the total accumulation of stable types of argon from the radioactive decay of potassium is measured directly and precisely by mass spectrometry. This research led to the development of the now globally used method of Ar-Ar thermochronology for determining ancient thermal histories of basement rock.
Berger then turned his attention to luminescence geochronology in the 1980s by conducting seminal experiments in thermoluminescence dating on unheated sediments and volcanic ash. This is a method that measures the total accumulation in crystals of natural ionizing-radiation effects by counting photons of extremely dim light released in the laboratory as luminescence. The intensity of this light is directly related to the length of time a crystal has been buried. Therefore, the older the specimen, the greater the luminescence level.
The Dandini Medal was established in 1992 by Countess Angela Dandini to honor her late husband. An inventor, engineer, scientist, businessman, educator and visionary, Count Alessandro Dandini helped establish the Dandini Research Park in Reno, which is home to DRI's northern Nevada campus and Truckee Meadows Community College.
Berger is director of DRI's E.L. Cord Luminescence-Geochronology Laboratory, a state-of-the-art dating facility that he founded. Berger has advanced not only the application but also technical aspects of this emerging technology. These advancements form the basis for many of his technical publications. Since becoming a faculty member at DRI, he has published 33 peer-reviewed papers in leading scientific journals including “Quaternary Science Reviews”, “Journal of Geophysical Research”, “Quaternary Research and Geology.”
Prior to joining DRI, he wrote an additional 38 papers, eight chapters in conference proceedings, 16 technical notes and 25 technical reports. He is the senior author of a remarkable two-thirds of his 71 peer-reviewed publications.
Countess Dandini, the award's sponsor, who traditionally presented the minted medallion and $1,000 prize, died suddenly last October. A formal Dandini Medal ceremony will be held in late spring.
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