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Nature 439, 928 (23 February 2006) | doi:10.1038/439928a; Published online 22 February 2006

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Obituary: Nicholas Shackleton (1937–2006)

Gerald H. Haug1 & Larry C. Peterson2

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A founding father of palaeoclimatology, and an avid clarinettist.

Much of what we have learned about the dynamics of Earth's climate system has come from the study of ancient climates. In the early 1960s, Nick Shackleton, then a graduate student at the University of Cambridge, UK, developed a mass spectrometer that could analyse the oxygen isotope ratios (18O/16O) in small numbers of foraminifera, tiny calcareous creatures that can be found fossilized in deep-sea sediments.

  1. Gerald H. Haug is at the Geoforschungszentrum Potsdam, 14473 Potsdam, Germany.
    Email: haug@gfz-potsdam.de
  2. Larry C. Peterson is at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Miami, Florida 33149, USA.
    Email: lpeterson@rsmas.miami.edu