UMD News Releases

Outstanding Service to the Lake Community
and Research Accomplishments

The International Association of Limnogeology (IAL) awarded its 2003 W.H. Bradley medal to Thomas C. Johnson of the Large Lakes Observatory (University of Minnesota Duluth) for his service to the lake community as well as his impressive research accomplishments. Limnogeology is the study of lakes and their deposits. The medal was awarded at the Third International Congress on Limnogeology (ILIC3) in Tucson, Arizona at the beginning of April, 2003.

Dr. Johnson's contributions to the global lake society include initiating and running the IDEAL program (International Decade for the East African Lakes) for the coordination of international research in the East African Lakes and promoting large lake research (particularly the North American Great Lakes) and its funding needs in the US. Professor Johnson has published seventy-one papers in limnogeology in peer reviewed journals and books. He has made noteworthy contributions to understanding the history, ancient climatic conditions, and sedimentary processes of Lake Superior in the US, as well as of Lakes Turkana, Victoria, and Malawi in East Africa.

The medal commemorates Wilmot Hyde Bradley, who published the first geologic-oriented paper in 1924 on a lake deposit, called the Green River Formation, which formed approximately 50 million years ago. Bradley reached the level of Chief Geologist of the U.S. Geological Survey and had a distinguished career. The IAL proudly links his name to its medal of distinction in science and service.