David Catling

David Catling, a UW professor of Earth and space sciences, has been elected as a fellow of the Royal Society. Founded in 1660, the Royal Society is the national academy of sciences of the United Kingdom and the world’s oldest continuous scientific academy.

Fellows are elected from all over the world through a lengthy selection process based on scientific excellence. Catling’s contributions have included new findings about how Earth’s atmosphere and environment changed over the billions of years since it formed, allowing life to begin and persist, as well as new understandings of environmental chemistry and physics on Mars and other planets.

“It’s a big honor, and rather daunting to look at the historical list of fellows,” said Catling. “For perspective, I think it’s important to remember that science is never a solo act. For me, this award ultimately arises because of strong science teachers in high school, sympathetic advisors during my university degrees, great mentors for my postdoctoral research at NASA, and the help of all my own students, postdocs and colleagues in bringing my scientific ideas to fruition.”

Catling will be formally admitted at a ceremony in July in London, where new fellows sign the Society’s Charter Book and promise to help the society promote science. Previous signatories include Stephen Hawking, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Benjamin Franklin and Dorothy Hodgkin.

“I am delighted to welcome this newest group of exceptional scientists to the Fellowship of the Royal Society,” said Sir Paul Nurse, president of the Royal Society. “Their contributions reflect the highest standards of scientific endeavour. Whether advancing our understanding of vaccines or exploring the transformative potential of mathematics and computation, their work exemplifies the enduring value of curiosity, creativity and rigorous inquiry.”

Catling is one of four current professors at the University of Washington elected as fellows of the Royal Society. The others are emeritus professors Joseph Felsenstein (Department of Genome Sciences), Elizabeth Thompson (Departments of Statistics and Biostatistics) and Bruce Weir (Department of Biostatistics).