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G. J. Taylor: Personal Profile 

I try to figure out how geological processes work, on the Earth and the other planetary bodies. If we do not understand the processes we cannot possibly unravel the geological histories of the planets. I have always been especially fascinated with extracting important numbers from rocks (equilibration temperatures, pressures, cooling rates) or showing that some process operated (asteroid break-up and reassembly, magma mixing). In spite of the widespread use of high-tech gizmos (mass spectrometers, ICPMS, electron microprobes, ion microprobes, etc.), I still believe in the power of petrography to help unravel what happened to make a rock the way it is. 

I enjoy hiking. I also like doing geological field work, and regret I did not start doing a lot of it sooner than I did. Field work is especially good because you get to hike around in nice places while being paid. Most important, field work is the only way to get an appreciation for many geological processes. Most planetary scientists, including me for most of my career, do not have this appreciation, explaining some wacky ideas that abound, especially among meteoriticists. 

I have become fanatical about promoting the fascinating discoveries made by planetary exploration and the research on data and rocks returned by space missions. There may be no better educational tool, and it is the responsibility of planetary scientists to help publicize their discoveries. This has led me (with my cohort Linda Martel) to develop some classroom activities and a web magazine. Being a high-tech dude, I also wrote an educational program on CD-ROM. Called Explore the Planets, it is available from Tasa Graphic Arts. I make money on this venture, making me more fanatical about its distribution. All these computer and internet products will be part of the future of education in schools forward thinking enough to fully equip their classrooms with the right technologies. This assumes that those schools also actually teach reading and essential math, too, which many schools do not seem to be doing!   

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