Thompson, Alan B., Prof.

ETH Zürich Prof. Dr. Alan B. Thompson Inst. f. Geochemie und Petrologie NW E 83.3 Clausiusstrasse 25 8092 Zuerich Phone: +41 44 632 37 88 Fax: +41 44 632 16 36 E-Mail:

Alan Bruce Thompson is Professor of Petrology at the ETH and at the University of Zürich.

Thompson was born on 1 May 1947 at Newcastle upon Tyne, England. He obtained a BSc. (Honours in Geology, 1968) and PhD. in Geology (1971) at Manchester University, England, where he was Lecturer in Geology from 1970-1973. During 1972 he was a Research Fellow at Harvard University, USA; from 1973-1976, he was Assistant Professor of Geology at Harvard and from 1977-1985 Visiting Research Fellow there. He began as Professor of Petrology at ETH, Zürich in December 1976 (elected Ordinarius in 1985, jointly with the University of Zürich). He has been a Visiting Professor at CalTech (1979); Hobart (1983); Kumamoto (1988); U.C. Santa Cruz and Berkeley (1990); and Delhi (1996).

His current research interests are summarized into the following fields:

1. Genesis and differentiation of magmas and magma dynamics;
2. Fluid-rock interaction and geochemical fluxes;
3. Evolution and deformation of crust and mantle;
4. Macro- to microscale rock transformation processes and interpretation of tectonic histories.