Professor Dr

Jochen Brocks

FAA

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Professor Jochen Brocks has pioneered technologies to detect traces of molecular fossils in billion-year-old sedimentary rocks, opening a new window on life in primordial oceans. His work has transformed textbook knowledge about the early evolution of nucleated life – our single-celled ancestors – and helped solve the puzzle of why the first animals emerged on Earth. His discoveries include some of the most profound ecological transformations in our planet’s history, with far-reaching implications for our understanding of the evolution of the carbon cycle and the potential for complex life on other planets. His work isolating cholesterol-like molecules – a signature of animal life – from a 550-million-year-old fossil was one of Science’s top 10 breakthroughs across all scientific disciplines worldwide in 2018.

Fields of research

31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
  • 3103 ECOLOGY
    • 310306 Palaeoecology
37 EARTH SCIENCES
  • 3703 GEOCHEMISTRY
    • 370302 Inorganic Geochemistry
    • 370304 Organic Geochemistry
  • 3705 GEOLOGY
    • 370506 Palaeontology (incl. Palynology)

For full list of research codes, please visit the ARC Website .

Expertise type

  • Stable Isotopes
  • Astrobiology
  • Early Life
  • Earth Evolution
  • Biochemical Evolution
  • Geobiology
  • Compound Specific Isotopes
  • Organic Geochemistry
  • Palaeontology

Please contact fellowship@science.org.au to request any updates to the data.