John Ludden

John Nicholas Ludden CBE FRSE is a British geologist, with expertise in igneous petrology and geochemistry. He was the 19th director of the British Geological Survey from 2006 to 2019, and has been president of the European Geosciences Union and the International Union of Geological Sciences.

Education Ludden was educated at the Skinners' School in Royal Tunbridge Wells. From 1970 to 1973 he studied for a BSc in Environmental Sciences at the University of Lancaster, before undertaking a PhD in igneous petrology at the University of Manchester. He completed his doctoral thesis on the petrology of Piton de la Fournaise volcano, Reunion Island, under the supervision of W.J. Wadsworth and Brian Upton.

Career After completing his PhD, Ludden went to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in the US as a post-doctoral research fellow. In 1978, he was appointed to a faculty position as associate professor at the Université de Montréal in Canada. In 1984, Ludden was promoted to professor of geochemistry, and was research leader for a part of the Canadian Lithoprobe project, with a focus on the precambrian geology of the Abitibi greenstone belt.

In 1994, Ludden moved to France, as director of the CNRS centre for petrography and geochemistry (CRPG), and director of a research group in Nancy, France. He also taught at ENSG-Nancy. From 2002 to 2006 he was associate director for Earth Sciences for CNRS.

Over the course of his research career, Ludden has published research papers on topics ranging from the evolution of the volcanoes of Reunion island and the weathering of ocean floor basalts. In 1988, Ludden was co-chief scientist on Leg 123 of the Ocean Drilling Program, to the Argo abyssal plain of the Indian Ocean.

Professional contributions Ludden has held a number of senior positions in international geoscience associations, including: Vice-president of the International Association of GeoChemistry, 2000 to 2004. President of the International Association of Geochemistry, 2004 to 2008.

In addition, Ludden has also joined the board of the Krafla magma testbed project.

Awards 2006 – Elected to membership of the Academia Europaea. 2021 – Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE).

Ludden is also a Foreign member of the Russian Academy of Sciences