Harmon Craig (1926–2003)

Harmon Craig, one of the great pioneers of isotope geochemistry died on 14 March after suffering a massive heart attack at his home in La Jolla, California. He was one day shy of his 77th birthday. Through an academic career of more than fifty years, Craig—or simply “Harmon,” as he was known throughout the world of geochemistry—made a remarkable number of fundamental and far-reaching contributions in a wide range of important areas concerned with the chemical and physical processes by which the solid Earth, the oceans, the atmosphere, and the solar system interact. While his research was broad in scope, it was also characterized by a strong emphasis on meticulous field and laboratory work, and on original and insightful interpretations of the resulting observations.