Roger Everett Summons Explained

Roger Everett Summons
Birth Date:11 June 1946
Birth Place:Sydney, Australia
Thesis Title:The alkaloids of some Australian and New Guinea plants
Thesis Url:https://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/1193/
Thesis Year:1971
Doctoral Advisors:Emery Gellert
J. Ellis

Roger Everett Summons (born 11 June 1946) is the Schlumberger Professor of Geobiology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Professor of Geobiology in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences.[1]

Summons’ research spans biogeochemistry, geobiology, and astrobiology. His work employs organic geochemical methods to examine the lipid chemistry of modern and ancient microbes, the isotopic signatures of climate change, and the evolution and origins of life.

Summons was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2020.[2]

Education and early life

Roger Summons was born on 11 June 1946 in Sydney,[3] and attended Lithgow High School. He earned his BSc (Honours Class I) in 1968[4] and PhD in 1971 in organic chemistry from the Wollongong University College of the University of New South Wales.[5] [6] This institution is now the University of Wollongong.[7] Summons' doctoral supervisors were professors Emery Gellert and J. Ellis. Following graduation, Summons completed a two-year fellowship in the genetics department, Stanford University, from 1972 to 1973 before starting postdoctoral and research fellowships in the Research School of Chemistry at the Australian National University. At Stanford, Summons worked under the direction of Alan Duffield and Joshua Lederberg.

Research and career

Before joining MIT as a professor of geobiology in 2001, he held appointments at the Australian National University’s Research School of Biological Sciences from 1977 to 1983, and at Geoscience Australia, Canberra from 1983 to 2001, where he led a research team that focused on the characterization of the biogeochemical carbon cycle and the nature and habitat of Australian petroleum.[8]

Summons is particularly known for the application of organic geochemical techniques to sediments of Precambrian age and modern microbes to increase the understanding of the early evolution of life on Earth. Summons is a member of the editorial boards of the peer-reviewed scientific journals Astrobiology, Geobiology, and Palaeoworld since their inception. He also served as associate editor of the peer-reviewed scientific journal Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta from 1995 to 2006.

From 2003 to 2007, Summons served on three committees of the US National Research Council including the Committee on Origin and Evolution of Life, the Committee on Limits of Life, and the Committee on Mars Astrobiology. Summons served as NASA co-chair of the organic contamination panel for the Mars 2020 Rover,[9] and was a member of the NASA Astrobiology Institute Executive Council from 2008 to 2017. During that time, he led the Foundations of Complex Life, the MIT NASA Astrobiology Institute team which interrogated the environmental, ecological, and genetic factors that lead to the evolution of complex life.[10] [11]

In addition to actively teaching both graduate and undergraduate courses at MIT, Summons is engaged as a collaborator with the search for organics on Mars as a member of the SAM Team of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission. He is also an investigator in the Simons Collaboration on the Origins of Life (SCOL).[12]

Selected papers

Honors and awards

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Summons, Roger MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. eapsweb.mit.edu. 2018-09-26.
  2. Web site: 2020 NAS Election.
  3. Encyclopedia: Summons, Roger Everett, (FAA) (1946–) . Encyclopedia of Australian Science . National Library of Australia.
  4. The synthesis of phenanthropiperidines . Summons . Roger . 1968 . B.S., with honours . . 221091817 .
  5. The alkaloids of some Australian and New Guinea plants . Summons . Roger . 1971 . PhD . . 221056730 .
  6. Web site: Roger Summons – Alumni @ UOW . University of Wollongong.
  7. Formerly known as the Wollongong University College of UNSW, then part of the University of New South Wales before the University of Wollongong gained its autonomy in 1975.
  8. Web site: The Summons Lab • Geobiology and Astrobiology at MIT » Roger Summons. summons.mit.edu. 2018-09-26.
  9. Web site: NASA Astrobiology. astrobiology.nasa.gov. 2018-09-26.
  10. Web site: NASA Astrobiology Institute. nai.nasa.gov. 2018-09-26.
  11. Web site: NASA Astrobiology Institute. nai.nasa.gov. 2018-09-26.
  12. Web site: Roger E. Summons Simons Foundation. www.simonsfoundation.org. 10 August 2017. 2018-09-26.
  13. Summons. Roger E.. Albrecht. Pierre. McDonald. Gene. Moldowan. J. Michael. 2007-10-10. Molecular Biosignatures. Space Science Reviews. 135. 1–4. 133–159. 10.1007/s11214-007-9256-5. 189770934. 0038-6308.
  14. Briggs. Derek E. G.. Summons. Roger E.. 2014-03-13. Ancient biomolecules: Their origins, fossilization, and role in revealing the history of life. BioEssays. 36. 5. 482–490. 10.1002/bies.201400010. 24623098. 26699744. 0265-9247.
  15. French. K. L.. Rocher. D.. Zumberge. J. E.. Summons. R. E.. 2015-01-28. Assessing the distribution of sedimentary C40carotenoids through time. Geobiology. 13. 2. 139–151. 10.1111/gbi.12126. 25631735. 2015Gbio...13..139F . 22535663 . 1472-4677.
  16. Luo. Genming. Ono. Shuhei. Beukes. Nicolas J.. Wang. David T.. Xie. Shucheng. Summons. Roger E.. 2016-05-01. Rapid oxygenation of Earth's atmosphere 2.33 billion years ago. Science Advances. 2. 5. e1600134. 10.1126/sciadv.1600134. 27386544. 4928975. 2016SciA....2E0134L. 2375-2548.
  17. Gold. David A.. Caron. Abigail. Fournier. Gregory P.. Summons. Roger E.. March 2017. Paleoproterozoic sterol biosynthesis and the rise of oxygen. Nature. 543. 7645. 420–423. 10.1038/nature21412. 28264195. 2017Natur.543..420G. 0028-0836. 1721.1/128450. 205254122. free.
  18. Hawes. I.. Jungblut. A. D.. Matys. E. D.. Summons. R. E.. 2018-03-12. The "Dirty Ice" of the McMurdo Ice Shelf: Analogues for biological oases during the Cryogenian. Geobiology. 16. 4. 369–377. 10.1111/gbi.12280. 29527802. 2018Gbio...16..369H . 1721.1/140848.2 . 3885072 . 1472-4677. free.
  19. Eigenbrode. Jennifer L.. Summons. Roger E.. Steele. Andrew. Freissinet. Caroline. Millan. Maëva. Navarro-González. Rafael. Sutter. Brad. McAdam. Amy C.. Franz. Heather B.. 2018-06-08. Organic matter preserved in 3-billion-year-old mudstones at Gale crater, Mars. Science. 360. 6393. 1096–1101. 10.1126/science.aas9185. 0036-8075. 29880683. 2018Sci...360.1096E. free. 10044/1/60810. free.
  20. Summons. R. E. Bradley. A. S. Jahnke. L. L. Waldbauer. J. R. Steroids, triterpenoids and molecular oxygen. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 361. 1470. 2006. 951–968. 0962-8436. 10.1098/rstb.2006.1837. 16754609. 1578733.
  21. Summons. Roger E.. Jahnke. Linda L.. Hope. Janet M.. Logan. Graham A.. Nature. 400. 6744. 1999. 554–557. 0028-0836. 10.1038/23005. 10448856. 2-Methylhopanoids as biomarkers for cyanobacterial oxygenic photosynthesis. 1999Natur.400..554S. 204995022.
  22. Summons. Roger E.. Powell. Trevor G.. Chlorobiaceae in Palaeozoic seas revealed by biological markers, isotopes and geology. Nature. 319. 6056. 1986. 763–765. 0028-0836. 10.1038/319763a0. 1986Natur.319..763S. 4368960.
  23. Encyclopedia: Biographical entry Summons, Roger Everett (1946 -) . Encyclopedia of Australian Science . 2013-06-05 . 2006-05-26.
  24. Web site: CV . Summons . Roger . 2016 . Massachusetts Institute of Technology. >
  25. Web site: Dr Roger Everett Summons . . 1 September 2019 . 1 September 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190901020852/https://www.science.org.au/fellowship/fellows/dr-roger-everett-summons . dead .
  26. Web site: Public profile . Australian Centre for Astrobiology . 2018-09-27.
  27. Web site: Alfred Treibs Award . . 2019-07-21.
  28. Web site: Citation for presentation of the 2004 Alfred E. Treibs Medal to Roger Summons . October 2004 . Newsletter of the Geochemical Society . 121 . 7 . John M. . Hayes . John M. Hayes (scientist) . Geochemical Society.
  29. Web site: Bert Halpern lecturers . . 2013-06-05.
  30. Web site: AGU Fellows . . 2013-06-05.
  31. Humboldt Awardee comes to Bremen: Renowned geochemist Roger Summons receives prestigious Humboldt Award for research in Bremen . 2013-06-05 . Center for Marine Environmental Sciences (MARUM) . https://web.archive.org/web/20090202154347/http://www.marum.de/en/Humboldt_Awardee_comes_to_Bremen.html . 2009-02-02.
  32. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20151117105954/https://royalsociety.org/people/roger-summons-12367/ . 2015-11-17 . Professor Roger Summons FRS. . London . One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where:
  33. Book: Moore Distinguished Scholars . 2008 Caltech Catalog . 2008 . 555 . California Institute of Technology.
  34. Web site: Roger Summons . . 2018-09-27.
  35. Web site: Roger E. Summons . . 2013-06-05 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130422041753/http://academy.asm.org/index.php/fellows-info/fellows-elected-in-2012/348-roger-summons . 2013-04-22.
  36. News: Fellows . 2018-04-09 . 2018-09-27 . Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg .
  37. Web site: Roger Summons' Profile . . 2018-09-28.
  38. News: Lauren . Hinkel . April 27, 2020 . Roger Summons Elected to the National Academy of Sciences . MIT EAPS News .

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