Snowball Earths
How Life Endured and Came out of the Cold
Wednesday, 7 May 2025
19:00 - 20:00 (Doors open 18:45)
This is a free event. Booking not required.
About the event
Many lines of geological evidence, informed by climate models, indicate that thick ice shelves twice covered 99.9% of ocean surface area for a combined 60 million years of the Cryogenian Period (717−635 Ma). As a result, the continents were mostly covered by active ice sheets. Join Professor Paul F. Hoffman as he discusses the Quito Express hypothesis, his research into how life survived these hostile environments, subsequent greenhouse aftermaths and the genetic legacy evident in organisms today.
About the speaker
Paul Hoffman, a Toronto-born sedimentary and tectonic field geologist, is a former Senior Research Scientist with the Geological Survey of Canada, where he successfully inferred the cladistic history of Precambrian North America in terms of plate tectonics; and a Sturgis Hooper Professor of Geology at Harvard University, where he was the leading advocate for Snowball Earth, based on thirty field seasons in northern Namibia and graduate students who worked independently across the globe. Hoffman has received numerous awards, most recently the 2024 Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences from the Inamori Foundation of Japan.
Accessibility information
| Wheelchair accessible? | Yes |
| Hearing loops? | Yes |
| Seating? | Yes |
| Refreshments? | No |
| Flashing lights? | No |
| Loud noises? | No |
For more information, please visit our accessibility webpage.
