The 2008 Dan David Prize honors Ellen Mosley-Thompson and Lonnie G. Thompson, jointly, in the field of Geosciences for their separate and joint efforts in studying the geological and environmental records in ice cores ranging from the polar regions to the highest tropical and subtropical mountains on six continents and remote islands; and for providing high-resolution environmental histories that contribute to the understanding of complex interactions in the Earth's outer envelopes, such as the fast melting of mountain glaciers worldwide and the retreat and disintegration of polar icecaps.
The 2008 Dan David Prize honors Geoffrey Eglinton in the field of Geosciences for his studies of organic chemical fossils, which revealed the inhabitants and climates of ancient worlds and the mechanisms by which their products yield essential resources for the future; for his pioneering and modern investigations of chemical fossils in sedimentary rocks; and for revolutionizing standards for the identification of molecular structures, introducing systematic considerations of chemical histories, and undertaking seminal studies of the molecular processes affecting sedimentary organic matter.
