John M. C. Plane

Early life and career

Plane was born in South Africa. He took an MA (1979) and a PhD (1983) at the University of Cambridge, where he also held a research fellowship. Later, he held academic appointments at the University of Miami and the University of East Anglia, before moving to the University of Leeds.

Research interests

Plane's research focuses on understanding the chemistry of planetary atmospheres (including Earth's) involving a combination of laboratory techniques (kinetics and photochemistry), atmospheric measurements (in situ and satellite remote sensing), and modelling at different scales. His research group studies four main areas: Earth's mesosphere (middle and upper atmosphere) and troposphere (lower atmosphere), the atmospheres of other planets, and interstellar chemistry (such as the formation of stardust). He has authored over 240 peer-reviewed papers.

Awards

Plane has received numerous honours and awards, including the Royal Society of Chemistry prize in Reaction Kinetics and Mechanisms (2005), a Royal Society of Chemistry Tilden Prize Lectureship (2006) ("for his outstanding contributions to our understanding of the chemistry of the troposphere and mesosphere through field measurements, laboratory experiments and theory"), the National Science Foundation CEDAR (Coupling, Energetics, and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions) Lecture Prize (2007), and the European Geosciences Union Vilhelm Bjerknes Medal (2017) ("in recognition of his groundbreaking work in atmospheric chemistry"). He was elected a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union in 2017. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2020.

The IAU named after him the asteroid nr. 33832 of the Main belt, Johnplane.

Selected publications