Prof. Dr. Paul Tackley
Prof. Dr. Paul Tackley
Full Professor at the Department of Earth Sciences
Deputy head of Institute of Geophysics
Additional information
Research area
Paul Tackley studies the structure, dynamics and evolution of Earth and other terrestrial planets and moons as related to convective processes in the mantle, lithospheric dynamics and plate tectonics. His approach emphasises numerical simulation, using state-of-the-art numerical methods and high performance parallel supercomputers to obtain more realistic, three-dimensional numerical models of dynamical processes than previously possible.
His group is presently involved in many different projects covering lithosphere dynamics, mantle dynamics, planetary dynamics, planetary differentiation and extra-solar planets, and the development of appropriate numerical techniques for these.
Paul Tackley has been Professor for Geophysical Fluid Dynamics in the Institute of Geophysics, Department of Earth Sciences since 2005. He was a member of the ETH Research Commission from 2010-2017, where he chaired subcommission I from 2014-2017. From 2013-2016 he was the Study Director of the Department of Earth Sciences. From 2010-2014 he served as Head of the Institute of Geophysics.
He was born in 1965 in Rugby, UK.
Paul Tackley received his BA in Natural Sciences (Physics major) 1987 from the University of Cambridge, UK, (1st Class Honors).
1991 he received his MSc in Geophysics from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Pasadena, CA, USA and in 1993 a M.A. Natural Sciences (Physics major) from the University of Cambridge. He earned his PhD in Geophysics at Caltech in 1994.
Following the doctorate he worked at the University of California, Los Angeles: Assistant Professor 1994-99, Associate Professor 1999-2003, Full Professor 2003-2005.
Honours
| Year | Distinction |
|---|---|
| 2021 | Fellow, Academia Europaea |
| 2017 | Fellow, American Geophysical Union |
| 2008 | Visiting Professor, University of Tokyo, Japan |
| 1997 | Packard Foundation Faculty Fellowship, USA |
| 1995 | Fellowships from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo, Japan |
| 1994 | Clauser Prize for his PhD thesis at Caltech |
| 1994 | Fellowship from the Inoue Foundation, Tokyo, Japan |
Additional information
Paul Tackley served as Associate Editor for the scientific journals Journal of Geophysical Research and Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems and is on the editorial board of the scientific journals Geophysical and Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics and Progress in Earth and Planetary Science.
He was chief organiser of four international scientific workshops, in 2008, 2009, 2016 and 2022.
From 2017-2021 he was president of the Division on Geodynamics of the European Geosciences Union.
Course Catalogue
Spring Semester 2024
| Number | Unit |
|---|---|
| 401-5880-00L | Seminar in Geophysics for CSE |
| 651-1617-00L | Geophysical Fluid Dynamics and Numerical Modelling Seminar |
| 651-3440-01L | Geophysics II |
| 651-4180-01L | Integrated Earth Systems I |
| 651-4228-00L | Topics in Planetary Sciences |
| 651-4912-00L | Planetary Habitability |