{{Short description|Professor of planetary sciences}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Sara Russell | image = Sara Russell on The Moon Landings & Cosmic Mineralogy.jpg | caption = Russell speaks on The Moon Landings & Cosmic Mineralogy in 2012 | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1966}} | workplaces = {{Plainlist| * Natural History Museum * Smithsonian Institution * California Institute of Technology }} | alma_mater = {{Plainlist| * University of Cambridge * Open University }} }}
'''Sara Samantha Russell''' (born 1966) is a professor of planetary sciences and leader of the Planetary Materials Group at the Natural History Museum, London. She is a Fellow of the Meteoritical Society and of the Royal Astronomical Society.
== Early life and education == Russell was captivated by the Moon landing as a child.<ref name="The Natural History Museum">{{Citation|last=The Natural History Museum|title=Sara Russell on travelling to Antarctica {{!}} Natural History Museum|date=2007-07-20|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCnYKvpPAxw|access-date=2018-08-10|publisher=YouTube}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/science-facilities/cahr/projects-partnerships/museum-lives/database/index.php?request=browse&irn=1819&index=1944|title=Museum Lives Staging {{!}} Natural History Museum|website=Natural History Museum|access-date=2018-08-10|date=<!--not specified-->|last=<!--not specified-->|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180811032144/http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/science-facilities/cahr/projects-partnerships/museum-lives/database/index.php?request=browse&irn=1819&index=1944|archive-date=11 August 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> She studied at the University of Cambridge, where she was introduced to microanalysis by Jim Long.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/About/History/Awards-Citations-Replies-2001-Onwards/2010-Awards-Citations-Replies#bigsby|title=The Geological Society of London - 2010 Awards: Citations, Replies|website=The Geological Society|access-date=2018-08-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180811231437/https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/About/History/Awards-Citations-Replies-2001-Onwards/2010-Awards-Citations-Replies#bigsby|archive-date=11 August 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> She had started studying natural sciences, but heard that geologists host the best parties, so switched courses.<ref name=":0" /> She was inspired to complete a PhD degree in geology after attending a lecture by Colin Pillinger, and moved to the Open University.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite journal|url=|title=1998 Mineralogical Society—Schlumberger Medal|date=1999-01-07|access-date=|archive-date=|archive-url=|last=Salje|first=Professor E. K. H.|journal=Mineralogical Magazine|issue=4|volume=63|pages=603–606|doi=10.1180/minmag.1999.063.4.13}} ----Free access to journal archives has been terminated. An archived full-text version of the article is available from before this change: https://web.archive.org/web/20180611184324/http://www.minersoc.org/pages/Archive-MM/Volume_63/63-4-603.pdf (archived 11 June 2018).</ref> She won the Royal Astronomical Society Keith Runcorn Prize for the best British doctoral thesis in geophysics in 1993.
== Career == Russell completed postdoctoral research at the California Institute of Technology and Smithsonian Institution.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4B6rJ3XMjtQC&q=sara+russell+antarctica|title=Meteorites, Ice, and Antarctica: A Personal Account|last=Cassidy|first=William A.|date=2012-03-29|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-43703-5|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7SvtVoa1W-cC&q=sara+russell+smithsonian|title=The History of Meteoritics and Key Meteorite Collections: Fireballs, Falls and Finds|last1=McCall|first1=Gerald Joseph Home|last2=Bowden|first2=A. J.|last3=Howarth|first3=Richard John|date=2006|publisher=Geological Society of London|isbn=978-1-86239-194-9|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/1999/nsf98106/98106htm/nsf98106b2.html|title=Meteorite studies|website=www.nsf.gov|access-date=2018-08-10}}</ref> She joined the Natural History Museum in 1998, where she studied protostars and planets.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Russell|first1=Sara S.|last2=Boss|first2=Alan P.|date=1998-08-14|title=Protostars and Planets|journal=Science|language=en|volume=281|issue=5379|pages=932–933|doi=10.1126/science.281.5379.932|issn=0036-8075|bibcode=1998Sci...281..932R|s2cid=4785221}}</ref> In 2000 she edited the collection Protostars and Planets IV.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/onlinebks/PPIV/contents.php|title=The University of Arizona Press: Protostars and Planets IV|date=2017-06-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170616224519/http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/onlinebks/PPIV/contents.php|access-date=2018-08-11|archive-date=2017-06-16}}</ref> Russell is leader of the micrometeorite and meteorite collection at the Natural History Museum, London.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Russell|first1=Sara|last2=Grady|first2=Monica M.|date=2006-01-01|title=A history of the meteorite collection at the Natural History Museum, London|url=http://sp.lyellcollection.org/content/256/1/153|journal=Geological Society, London, Special Publications|language=en|volume=256|issue=1|pages=153–162|doi=10.1144/GSL.SP.2006.256.01.08|issn=0305-8719|bibcode=2006GSLSP.256..153R|s2cid=131227425|url-access=subscription}}</ref> She has been on three expeditions to Antarctica searching for meteorites.<ref name="The Natural History Museum"/><ref name="Royal Astronomical Society">{{Cite web|url=https://www.ras.org.uk/component/gem/?id=401|title=Royal Astronomical Society|website=www.ras.org.uk|language=en-gb|access-date=2018-08-10}}</ref> She has been awarded the Antarctica Service Medal.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RsliDwAAQBAJ&q=sara+russell+antarctica+medal|title=Chondrules: Records of Protoplanetary Disk Processes|last1=Russell|first1=Sara S.|last2=Connolly|first2=Harold C. Jr.|last3=Krot|first3=Alexander N.|date=2018-06-30|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-108-30467-2|language=en}}</ref> She was awarded a Leverhulme Trust grant in 2005.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/profile/amzn1.account.AGEFBAT3I5C64DCZ6GMJW3FKDDMA/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_pdp?ie=UTF8|title=The Leverhulme Trust 2005|date=2005|website=The Leverhulme Trust|access-date=2018-08-11}}</ref> In 2006 she studied the meteorites in the early solar system and the protoplanetary disc.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FRc2iq9g9pkC&q=sara+s+russell+natural+history+museum&pg=PA233|title=Meteorites and the Early Solar System II|last1=Lauretta|first1=Dante S.|last2=McSween|first2=Harry Y.|date=2006|publisher=University of Arizona Press|isbn=978-0-8165-2562-1|language=en}}</ref>
On behalf of the Natural History Museum, Russell was part of the team which arranged the acquisition of the Ivuna meteorite in 2008.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/sep/22/meteorite-from-birth-of-solar-system-to-go-on-display|title=Meteorite from birth of solar system to go on display|last=Sample|first=Ian|date=2015-09-22|website=the Guardian|language=en|access-date=2018-08-10}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/Geoscientist/Archive/July-2008/NHM-buys-new-meteorite|title=The Geological Society of London - NHM buys new meteorite|website=www.geolsoc.org.uk|access-date=2018-08-10}}</ref> In 2009 she published the book ''Meteorite'' with Caroline Smith and Gretchen Benedix.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Meteorites|last1=results|first1=search|last2=Russell|first2=Sara|last3=Benedix|first3=Gretchen|date=2009-09-03|publisher=The Natural History Museum|isbn=978-0-565-09239-9|edition= Revised |location=London|language=English|id= {{ASIN|0565092391|country=uk}}}}</ref> She won the Geological Society of London Bigsby Medal in 2010.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/About/History/Award-Winners-Since-1831/Bigsby-Medal|title=The Geological Society of London - Bigsby Medal|website=www.geolsoc.org.uk|access-date=2018-08-10}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|date=2010-08-23|title=Society Awards for 2010|url=https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/jgs/article-abstract/167/5/841/372761/society-awards-for-2010?redirectedFrom=fulltext|journal=Journal of the Geological Society|language=en|volume=167|issue=5|pages=841–842|doi=10.1144/0016-76492010-Awa|issn=0016-7649|bibcode=2010JGSoc.167..841.|s2cid=219542144|url-access=subscription}}</ref> In 2011 Russell took part in an exhibition at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.<ref>{{Citation|publisher=IOP Publishing Ltd|isbn=978-0-333-75088-9|doi=10.1888/0333750888/4203|chapter=Royal Observatory, Greenwich|title = The Encyclopedia of Astronomy and Astrophysics|pages=4203|year = 2001|bibcode = 2000eaa..bookE4203.|last1 = Murdin|first1 = P}}</ref> She is a science team member of OSIRIS-REx.<ref name="Royal Astronomical Society"/> She was the initial point of contact in the process by which the Tissint meteorite came to be acquired by the Natural History Museum in 2012.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/09/science/space/meteorite-from-mars-is-at-home-in-london-after-a-world-tour.html|title=Meteorite From Mars Is at Home in London, After a World Tour|last=Chang|first=Kenneth|work=The New York Times |date=8 February 2012 |access-date=2018-08-10|language=en}}</ref> In 2014 she studied Moon rocks brought back by the Apollo Astronauts, finding that the lunar crust did not form from a common source.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://phys.org/news/2014-08-meteorites-expose-moon-surface-formation.html|title=Meteorites expose Moon surface formation|access-date=2018-08-10}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Russell|first1=Sara S.|last2=Joy|first2=Katherine H.|author-link2 = Katherine Joy|last3=Jeffries|first3=Teresa E.|last4=Consolmagno|first4=Guy J.|last5=Kearsley|first5=Anton|date=2014-09-13|title=Heterogeneity in lunar anorthosite meteorites: implications for the lunar magma ocean model|journal=Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A|language=en|volume=372|issue=2024|article-number=20130241|doi=10.1098/rsta.2013.0241|issn=1364-503X|pmid=25114312|pmc=4128264|bibcode=2014RSPTA.37230241R}}</ref>
Russell has studied the origin of water in the inner Solar System with Monica Grady.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Russell|first1=Sara S.|last2=Ballentine|first2=Chris J.|last3=Grady|first3=Monica M.|date=2017-05-28|title=The origin, history and role of water in the evolution of the inner Solar System|journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences|volume=375|issue=2094|article-number=20170108|doi=10.1098/rsta.2017.0108|issn=1364-503X|pmc=5394259|pmid=28416731|bibcode=2017RSPTA.37570108R}}</ref> She published ''Chondrules'' in 2018, a book which considers the silicate grains that form in the protoplanetary disk.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3pheDwAAQBAJ|title=Chondrules: Records of Protoplanetary Disk Processes|last1=Russell|first1=Sara S.|last2=Connolly|first2=Harold C. Jr.|last3=Krot|first3=Alexander N.|date=2018-07-19|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-108-41801-0|language=en}}</ref> The eponymous asteroid 5497 Sararussell was named after her. Russell is an advocate for diversity in science.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.culture24.org.uk/science-and-nature/art447683|title=NASA experts and maggot races in Science Uncovered at the Natural History Museum {{!}} Culture24|website=www.culture24.org.uk|access-date=2018-08-10}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Sara}} Category:1966 births Category:Employees of the Natural History Museum, London Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge Category:Living people Category:Place of birth missing (living people) Category:Alumni of the Open University Category:California Institute of Technology people Category:Smithsonian Institution people Category:Meteorite researchers Category:British women scientists Category:British geologists Category:Fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society Category:Planetary scientists Category:Women planetary scientists