Chemistry Of Mercury Is Focus At sites around the world and at
his base lab at the Avery Point campus, marine geochemist
William F. Fitzgerald has for more than 30 years conducted
research and spread the word about how mercury is cycled in the
environment. His work has challenged traditional ideas about
mercury’s effects, and has altered the way scientists once
sampled aquatic systems for mercury contamination. Fitzgerald,
who was named a Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor last
spring, has been called “the father of mercury research.” But a
former student, Robert P. Mason, now a professor at Chesapeake
Biological Laboratory at the University of Maryland, says he’s
actually the “grandfather” – his former students have now
graduated their own students who are also researching mercury.
“He’s the world’s foremost expert on the chemistry of mercury
from an oceanographic and environmental point of view,” says W.
Berry Lyons, director of the Byrd Polar Research Center at Ohio
State University and one of Fitzg