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{{Short description|British geologist (1937–2006)}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| honorific_prefix = Sir
| name = Nicholas Shackleton
| honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|FRS|size=100%}}
| image =
| image_size = 150px
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1937|06|23}}
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| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2006|01|24|1937|06|23}}
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| citizenship =
| nationality = British
| ethnicity =
| field = Geology
| work_institutions =
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| known_for = [[Quaternary]] Period
| author_abbrev_bot =
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| prizes = {{no wrap|[[Fellow of the Royal Society]]<ref name="frs">{{Cite journal | last1 = McCave | first1 = I. N. | author-link1 = Nick McCave| last2 = Elderfield | first2 = H. | author-link2 = Henry Elderfield| title = Sir Nicholas John Shackleton. 23 June 1937 – 24 January 2006 | doi = 10.1098/rsbm.2011.0005 | journal = [[Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society]] | volume = 57 | pages = 435–462 | year = 2011 | s2cid = 71330012 }}</ref> [[Lyell Medal]] {{small|(1987)}} [[Wollaston Medal]] {{small|(1996)}} [[Urey Medal (European Association of Geochemistry)|Urey Medal]] {{small|(2003)}} [[Vetlesen Prize]] {{small|(2004)}} [[Blue Planet Prize]] (2005)}}
| religion =
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}}

'''Sir Nicholas John Shackleton''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|FRS}}<ref name="frs"/> (23 June 1937 – 24 January 2006) was an English geologist and [[paleoclimatologist]] who specialised in the [[Quaternary]] Period.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Tzedakis | first1 = C. | title = Professor Sir Nicholas J. Shackleton, FRS (1937–2006) | doi = 10.1016/j.quascirev.2006.02.008 | journal = Quaternary Science Reviews | volume = 25 | issue = 5–6 | pages = 403–416 | year = 2006 |bibcode = 2006QSRv...25..403T | doi-access = free }}</ref> He was the son of the distinguished field geologist [[Robert Millner Shackleton]] and great-nephew of the explorer [[Ernest Shackleton]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Brozan |first=Nadine |date=12 February 2006 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/12/science/12shackleton.html |title=Sir Nicholas Shackleton, Geologist, Is Dead at 68 |work=[[New York Times]]}}</ref>

==Education and employment==

Educated at [[Cranbrook School, Kent]] (thanks to the generosity of a person he called his "fairy godmother" as she paid his school fees) Shackleton went on to read [[Natural Sciences (Cambridge)|natural sciences]] at [[Clare College, Cambridge]]. He graduated with the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1961, promoted in 1964 to [[Master of Arts (Oxbridge and Dublin)|Master of Arts]]. In 1967 Cambridge awarded him a PhD degree, for a thesis entitled "The Measurement of Paleotemperatures in the Quaternary Era".

Apart from periods abroad as Visiting Professor or Research Associate, Shackleton's entire scientific career was spent at Cambridge. He became Ad hominem Professor in 1991, in the [[University of Cambridge Department of Earth Sciences|Department of Earth Sciences]], working in the [[University of Cambridge Godwin Laboratory|Godwin Institute for Quaternary Research]].

==Paleoceanography==

[[Image:Glacial effect hg.png|thumb|left|The Glacial effect describes the change of the oxygen isotope composition of sea water, due to growing ice sheets in high latitudes during glacials.]]

Shackleton was a key figure in the field of [[paleoceanography]], publishing over two hundred scientific papers. He was a pioneer in the use of [[mass spectrometry]] to determine changes in climate as recorded in the [[oxygen isotope]] composition of calcareous microfossils.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Shackleton | first1 = N. | author-link = Nicholas Shackleton| doi = 10.1016/0033-5894(73)90052-5 | title = Oxygen isotope and palaeomagnetic stratigraphy of Equatorial Pacific core V28-238: Oxygen isotope temperatures and ice volumes on a 105 year and 106 year scale*1 | journal = Quaternary Research | volume = 3 | issue = 1 | pages = 39–00 | year = 1973 | bibcode = 1973QuRes...3...39S| s2cid = 128746997 }}</ref> Shackleton also found evidence that the Earth's last magnetic field reversal was 780,000 years ago. He became internationally known, in 1976, with the publication of a paper, with James Hays and John Imbrie, in ''Science'' entitled "Variations in the Earth's orbit: Pacemaker of the ice ages".<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Hays | first1 = J. D. | author-link1 = James D. Hays| last2 = Imbrie | first2 = J. | author-link2 = John Imbrie| last3 = Shackleton | first3 = N. J. | author-link3 = Nicholas Shackleton| doi = 10.1126/science.194.4270.1121 | title = Variations in the Earth's Orbit: Pacemaker of the Ice Ages | journal = [[Science (journal)|Science]]| volume = 194 | issue = 4270 | pages = 1121–1132 | year = 1976 | pmid = 17790893| bibcode = 1976Sci...194.1121H| s2cid = 667291 }}</ref> Using [[ocean sediment]] cores, Shackleton, Hays and Imbrie demonstrated that oscillations in climate over the past few million years could be correlated with variations in the orbital and positional relationship between the Earth and the Sun (see [[Milankovitch cycle]]s).

Much of Shackleton's later work focused on constructing precise timescales based on matching the periodic cycles in deep-sea sediment cores to calculations of incoming sunlight at particular latitudes over geological time. This method allows a far greater level of stratigraphic precision than other dating methods, and has also helped to clarify the rates and mechanisms of aspects of climate change.

In September 2000 Shackleton published an innovative study of the relationship between the oxygen isotope record of the oceans and isotope records obtained from the ice in Antarctica (glacial effect). This helped to identify the relative contribution of deep water temperature changes and ice volume changes to the marine isotopic record, and also highlighted the close interdependency between carbon dioxide levels and temperature change over the last 400,000 years.

In 1995 Shackleton became Director of the Godwin Institute for Quaternary Research. In 1998 he was knighted for his services to earth sciences. From 1999 to 2003 he was president of the [[International Union for Quaternary Research]] (INQUA). In 2010 Nick Shackleton was one of ten scientists depicted on a set of postage stamps, in commemoration of the 350th anniversary of the [[Royal Society]]. Shackleton was chosen to represent [[Earth Science]].

The [[European Association of Geochemistry]] quinquennially awards a [[Science Innovation Award]] medal named in his honour for work in climatology.

==Clarinet==

Shackleton was also a skilled amateur clarinet player, and collector of woodwind instruments. During his lifetime he amassed a large collection of clarinets and related instruments. His Cambridge home became a place of pilgrimage for many players and scholars. Shackleton was internationally known as an organologist, reflected in his many journal articles, as well as his contributions to the 1980 and 2001 editions of ''[[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]'', as well as the Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments. Most of Shackleton's substantial instrument collection, numbering over 700 instruments, was bequeathed to the [[University of Edinburgh]] together with an endowment. Part of the collection is now exhibited at the Reid Concert Hall, as part of Edinburgh University's Collection of Historic Musical Instruments. The collection has been described in a published catalogue [https://web.archive.org/web/20071018031229/http://www.music.ed.ac.uk/euchmi/ucis.html].

In addition to his reputation in the scientific world, Shackleton was highly respected by many musicians, and a friend to many who studied at Cambridge, including [[Christopher Hogwood]] who lodged with him for several years. The fine copies, by Cambridge maker Daniel Bangham, of many clarinets in Shackleton's collection, had a significant impact on historical performance from the 1980s, and continue to be used by leading performers today.

==Personal life==
From 1986 to 2002, Shackleton was married to [[Vivien Law]], a linguistic scholar.<ref name="Vivien ODNB">{{cite ODNB|last1=Hüllen|first1=Werner|title=Law, Vivien Anne, Lady Shackleton (1954–2002)|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/76847|accessdate=7 November 2016|date=January 2010|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/76847}}</ref>

==Awards==
{{div col}}
*[[Doctor of Science]] (ScD), University of Cambridge 1984
*Fellow of the [[Royal Society]] (FRS) 1985<ref name="frs"/>
*Francis P. Shepard Medal for marine geology (SEPM) 1985
*Carus Medal, Deutsche Akademie für Naturforscher 'Leopoldina' 1985
*[[Lyell Medal]], [[Geological Society of London]] 1987
*Founding member, [[Academia Europaea]] 1988
*Fellow, [[American Geophysical Union]] 1990
*[[A.G. Huntsman Award for Excellence in the Marine Sciences]] ([[Bedford Institute of Oceanography]] Canada) 1990
*[[Crafoord Prize]], [[Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]] 1995
*Honorary Doctor of Laws, [[Dalhousie University]] Canada 1996
*[[Wollaston Medal]], Geological Society of London 1996<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/gsl/null/lang/en/page750.html|title=Wollaston Medal|work=Award Winners since 1831|publisher=[[Geological Society of London]]|access-date=25 February 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100819015708/http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/gsl/null/lang/en/page750.html|archive-date=19 August 2010}}</ref>
*Honorary Doctor of Philosophy, [[Stockholm University]] 1997
*Knighthood for services to the earth sciences in 1998
*[[Milutin Milankovic Medal]], [[European Geophysical Society]] 1999<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.egu.eu/awards-medals/milutin-milankovic/ |title= EGU – Awards & medals – Milutin Milankovic Medal |author= |publisher= European Geosciences Union |access-date= 18 May 2018 }}</ref>
*Foreign Associate, [[US National Academy of Sciences]] 2000
*Foreign Member, [[Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences]], 2001<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dwc.knaw.nl/biografie/pmknaw/?pagetype=authorDetail&aId=PE00002970 |title=Nicholas John Shackleton (1937–2006) |language=nl |publisher=Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences |access-date=17 July 2015}}</ref>
*Honorary Doctorate, Geology, [[University of Padova]], Italy, 2002
*[[Maurice Ewing Medal]], [[American Geophysical Union]] 2002
*Honorary member, [[European Geosciences Union|EUG]] 2003
*[[Urey Medal (European Association of Geochemistry)|Urey Medal]], 2003
*[[Royal Medal]], [[Royal Society of London]] 2003
*[[Vetlesen Prize]], [[Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory]] of Columbia University 2004
*Fellow of the [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]] 2004
*[[Founder's Medal]], [[Royal Geographical Society]] 2005
*Blue Planet Prize, Asahi Glass Foundation, Japan 2005
{{div col end}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110710184405/http://enduser.elsevier.com/quaternary A special issue of ''Quaternary Science Reviews''] dedicated to Nick Shackleton; includes several articles by and about him, as well as a complete list of his publications.
*[http://www.quaternary.group.cam.ac.uk/about/nicktributes.html Tributes to Nicholas Shackleton]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Shackleton, Nicholas}}
[[Category:1937 births]]
[[Category:2006 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century British geologists]]
[[Category:British climatologists]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Fellows of Clare College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Wollaston Medal winners]]
[[Category:Members of Academia Europaea]]
[[Category:Royal Medal winners]]
[[Category:Lyell Medal winners]]
[[Category:People educated at Cranbrook School, Kent]]
[[Category:Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[Category:Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Geophysical Union]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Royal Geographical Society Founder's Medal]]
[[Category:Vetlesen Prize winners]]

Nicholas Shackleton - Revision history

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