Larter joins Royal Society

A University of Calgary professor was recently named a fellow of the United Kingdom’s Royal Society, joining the select rank of scientists with the honour, including the likes of Sir Isaac Newton and Stephen Hawking.

Petroleum geologist Steve Larter was named a fellow of the Royal Society on May 15 and will be formally accepted at a ceremony in London in mid-July. The fellowship recognizes scientific excellence over a career.

“It’s a nice recognition that what I and the large number of folk I’ve been working with—post-docs, students, technicians—for many, many years, has had some impact,” said Larter, Canada Research Chair in Petroleum Geology and an AIF Scholar. “This is a team sport! They say these awards are for scientific excellence, but we’ve managed to do that in an area that’s also quite applicable, too, so it’s very satisfying . Everyone likes to get a gold star and this is a big one—we are all very happy.”

Larter joined the University of Calgary in 2004 from the University of Newcastle, UK. His research interests lie in the production of heavy oil, petroleum biodegradation and the deep biosphere. The recent focus of his research is in novel uses of petroleum reservoirs as in situ refineries, in which natural microorganisms speed up the natural process of oil and gas formation to recover energy as natural gas or hydrogen rather than heavy oil.

Larter earned his PhD in petroleum geochemistry from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, in 1978. He also studied at the University of Cambridge.

In this round, 44 new fellows and eight foreign members were elected through peer review. There are 1,346 fellows of the UK Royal Society, which was founded in 1660, and more than 40 Nobel laureates are represented in the fellowship.

Along with the people Larter has worked with on various projects, he was also keen to recognize his relationship with the U of C, Alberta Ingenuity, AICISE, CFI and NSERC, as well as the various oil industry collaborators he has had.

“I also appreciate the excellent support from the University of Calgary and the Faculty of Science over the years. Now it’s time for a few beers,” Larter said.