astronomy

Roger Everett Summons

Roger Everett Summons is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Roger Everett Summons rather than just read about it. In short: Roger Everett Summons (born 11 June 1946) is the Schlumberger Professor of Geobiology, Emeritus, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Professor of Geobiology in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. Summons' research spans biogeochemistry, geobiology, and astrobiology.

Key takeaways

Roger Everett Summons belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
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Reproduce the core statement of Roger Everett Summons from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

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

Education and early life Roger Summons was born on 11 June 1946 in Sydney, and attended Lithgow High School. He earned his BSc (Honours Class I) in 1968 and PhD in 1971 in organic chemistry from the Wollongong University College of the University of New South Wales. This institution is now the University of Wollongong. 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. 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, 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. 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).

Selected papers Molecular biosignatures: generic qualities of organic compounds that betray biological origins Ancient biomolecules: their origin, fossilization and significance in revealing the history of life Assessing the distribution of sedimentary C40 carotenoids through time Rapid oxidation of Earth's atmosphere 2.33 billion years ago Paleoproterozoic sterol biosynthesis and the rise of oxygen The 'Dirty Ice' of the McMurdo Ice Shelf: Analogues for biological oases during the Cryogenian Organic matter preserved in 3-billion-year-old mudstones at Gale crater Steroids, triterpenoids and molecular oxygen 2-Methylhopanoids as biomarkers for cyanobacterial oxygenic photosynthesis Chlorobiaceae in Palaeozoic seas - Combined evidence from biological markers, isotopes and geology

Honors and awards 1987 – 1998 – Fellow, Royal Australian Chemical Institute 1998 – Fellow, Australian Academy of Science 2002 – Australian Organic Geochemistry Medal 2003 – Alfred E. Treibs Award of the Geochemical Society 2005 – Halpern Medal, University of Wollongong 2006 – Fellow, American Geophysical Union 2008 – Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Research Award 2008 – Fellow, Royal Society 2008 – Moore Distinguished Scholar, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology 2009 – Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa, University of Wollongong 2012 – Fellow, American Academy of Microbiology 2013 – Honorary Fellow, Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg (Institute for Advanced Study) 2014 – Inaugural Fellow, Australian and New Zealand Society for Mass Spectrometry 2015 – Cox visiting professor, School of Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University (through 2016) 2020 – Fellow, National Academy of Sciences (NAS)

References

External links Official website

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Roger Everett Summons

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Roger Everett Summons claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Roger Everett Summons before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Roger Everett Summons ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Roger Everett Summons

In research: Roger Everett Summons appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Roger Everett Summons in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Roger Everett Summons is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1946 births, Astrobiologists, Biogeochemists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Roger Everett Summons outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Roger Everett Summons in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Roger Everett Summons means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Roger Everett Summons out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Roger Everett Summons in simple terms?

Why does Roger Everett Summons matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Roger Everett Summons?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Roger Everett Summons.