Antje Boetius

Antje Boetius
Boetius in 2018
Born (1967-03-05) 5 March 1967 (age 57)
Frankfurt am Main, West Germany (now Germany)
Alma materUniversity of Hamburg
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsMarine biology
InstitutionsUniversity of Bremen

Antje Boetius (born 5 March 1967) is a German marine biologist. She is a professor of geomicrobiology at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, University of Bremen.[1] Boetius received the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize in March 2009 for her study of sea bed microorganisms that affect the global climate.[2] She is also the director of Germany's polar research hub, the Alfred Wegener Institute.[3]

Boetius was the first person to describe anaerobic oxidation of methane,[2] and believes the Earth's earliest life forms may have subsisted on methane in the absence of molecular oxygen (instead reducing oxygen-containing compounds such as nitrate or sulfate).[4] She has also suggested such life forms may be able to reduce the rate of climate change in future.[4] She is one of the laureates of the 2018 Environment Prize (German Environment Foundation)[5] Boetius also won the Erna Hamburger Prize in 2019.[6]

  1. ^ Antje Boetius, profile at the University of Bremen webpage, retrieved 28 May 2010.
  2. ^ a b 2009 Leibniz prizewinners, Eurekalert, retrieved 28 May 2010.
  3. ^ "Management – AWI". www.awi.de. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
  4. ^ a b Methane-Eating Life Form May Halt Global Warming, The Guardian, published 9 August 2002, retrieved 28 May 2010.
  5. ^ "German Environmental Prize goes to Marine Biologist Boetius and Leipzig Waste Water Experts". www.dbu.de. Archived from the original on 8 February 2021. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
  6. ^ "Erna Hamburger 2019". wishfoundation-2. Retrieved 20 March 2021.[permanent dead link]