Dr. Ross Taylor

Emeritus Professor
Research School of Earth Sciences
The Australian National University
Canberra ACT 0200, Australia

Phone: (02) 6125 2089 Int 612 6125 2089
E-mail:  [email protected]

Dr. Stuart [Ross] Taylor was involved in the study of lunar samples from the first sample return in July 1969,   when he was a member of the Preliminary Examination Team at NASA JSC, Houston, Texas and carried out the first analysis of the first lunar sample returned to Earth. Subsequently as a NASA principal investigator for 20 years, he worked on models for lunar composition, evolution and origin. He has made many visits to the Lunar and Planetary Institute as a visiting fellow. 

Ross grew up on a farm in New Zealand and earned both MS and BS science degrees in chemistry and geology at the University of New Zealand before completing his PhD in geochemistry at Indiana University with Brian Mason. He lectured at the Universities of Oxford and Cape Town before moving to the Research School of Earth Sciences at the Australian National University where he is currently an emeritus professor.

Ross has worked on the composition and evolution of the Moon, the continental crust, tektites and impact glasses, island arc rocks and many other topics involving trace element geochemistry.  He has published 240 papers in scientific journals and nine books, including Lunar Science: A Post-Apollo View, Planetary Science: A Lunar Perspective, Solar System Evolution: A New Perspective (2 editions), Destiny or Chance, The Continental Crust  (with Scott McLennan)  and Planetary Crusts  (with Scott McLennan).

Ross has been awarded the Goldschmidt Medal of the Geochemical Society, the Leonard Medal of the Meteoritical Society, the Bucher Medal and the Bowen Award of the American Geophysical Union and the Gilbert Award of the Geological Society of America.  Asteroid 5670 is named Rosstaylor.

He is a foreign member of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America; a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science; holds honorary fellowships of the Royal Society of New Zealand, the Geological Society (London) and the Geological Society of India. He is a former president of the Meteoritical Society; holds a doctor of science degree from Oxford; and is a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC).