date: Wed, 12 Nov 2003 18:49:59 -0000 from: "Elaine Jones" subject: Re: new DG-Research at OST to: "Mike Hulme" Thanks Mike, Stable isotope guru (out of Geochronology). Interestingly knighted at the same time as his (former) fellow Cambridge geologist Ron Oxburgh became a life peer. Note the nuclear conection (last para) - a D.King/TB recruit ? A 2002 nature paper was the 'Science of Nuclear Warheads' ! a ? follow-up headline was "Work on weapons adds to public distrust of science" but that was amongst other things !! (perhaps he is to spearhead the European research agenda) e.g. Evidence for Stronger Thermohaline Circulation Prior to Northern Hemisphere Glaciation from Nd and Pb Isotopes in Ferromanganese Crusts Martin Frank (frank@erdw.ethz.ch)1 , Nicholas Whiteley (nickw@earth.ox.ac.uk)2 , Sabine Kasten (skasten@geochemie.uni-bremen.de)3 , James R. Hein (jimh@octopus.wr.usgs.gov)4 &R. Keith O'Nions (keitho@earth.ox.ac.uk)2 http://www.the-conference.com/JConfAbs/5/409.pdf Chief Scientific Adviser launches new series of leaflets on cutting edge technology Published Tuesday 27th March 2001 Sir Keith O'Nions, the MOD's Chief Scientific Adviser, launched on 27 March a new series of leaflets outlining emerging technologies which might impact on defence issues. The first leaflet covers Nanotechnology - a field of science concerned with microscopically small components, around a millionth of a millimetre across. The leaflet: explains the basic principles of the technology; examines the various areas, civil and military, where it might have an effect; and outlines the work being undertaken by the MOD to track its development. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- 6 July 1999 NEW CHIEF SCIENTIFIC ADVISER, MINISTRY OF DEFENCE George Robertson, Defence Secretary, announced today that, with the agreement of the Prime Minister, Professor Sir Keith O'Nions FRS, of Oxford University, has been appointed Chief Scientific Adviser at the Ministry of Defence. Professor O'Nions, replaces Professor Sir David Davies, and will take up his new appointment in January 2000. His appointment will be for three years. - ends - NOTES TO EDITORS 1. Biography: Professor Sir Keith O'Nions has been Professor of the Physics and Chemistry of Minerals, and Head of Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford since 1995. He was born on 26 September 1944 and educated at the University of Nottingham where he graduated in Geology, later gaining a Ph.D at the University of Alberta and becoming a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Oslo. From 1971 to 1975 he was Demonstrator and then Lecturer in Geochemistry at the University of Oxford. He became Professor of Geology at Columbia University in 1975, moved to Cambridge in 1979 as Royal Society Research Professor, before taking up his current appointment in Oxford in 1995. In addition to his role at Oxford, Professor Sir Keith O'Nions has enjoyed extensive participation in a broad range of academic and technological committees. He became a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union in 1979, and a Member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and letters in 1980. In 1983, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS). He became a Member of Academia Europaea in 1990, Geochemistry Fellow (Joint Geochemical Society/European Association of Geochemistry) in 1997, and Honorary Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences in 1998. He has been the chairman, or a member, of a number of committees of the Natural Environment Research Council since 1981, and a member of the Council of Science and Technology since 1998. He received a Knighthood for services to Earth Sciences in the recent Queen's Birthday Honours. Professor Sir Keith O'Nions is married with three daughters. 2. George Robertson made the announcement in response to a written Parliamentary Question from Lorna Fitzsimons, MP, (Rochdale). He said: "I am announcing today that Professor Sir Keith O'Nions will become the Chief Scientific Adviser to the MoD on 4 January 2000. His appointment will be for three years." Professor Sir Keith O'Nions FRS Sir Keith was born on 26 September 1944 and educated at the Universities of Nottingham and Alberta. He held academic positions in Universities of Oxford (1971 to 1975), Columbia (1975 - 1979), Cambridge (1979 - 1995 as Royal Society Research Professor) and Oxford (1995 onwards as Professor of the Physics and Chemistry of Minerals and the Head of Department of Earth Sciences). He took up his current post as Chief Scientific Adviser at the Ministry of Defence in January 2000. He became a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union in 1979, and a Member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters in 1980, a Fellow of the Royal Society (1983), a Member of Academia Europaea in 1990, Geochemistry Fellow (Joint Geochemical Society/European Association of Geochemistry) in 1997, Honorary Fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences in 1998 and National Indian Science Academy in 2001. He has been the chairman, or a member, of a number of committees of the Natural Environment Research Council, and was a member of the Council of Science and Technology until 2000. He has been a Trustee of the Natural History Museum since 1995 (and took over as Chairman in 2003). He received a Knighthood for services to Earth Sciences in the 1999 Queen's Birthday Honours. Professor Sir Keith O'Nions has been Chief Scientific Adviser at the Ministry of Defence since 4 January 2000. In addition to being a member of the Defence Council and Defence Management Board his specific responsibilities include managing the MOD's £450M annual research programme and chairing the Investment Approvals Board. He is also the UK Principal for the 1958 UK/US Mutual Defence Agreement on nuclear matters and for the 1985 UK/US Memorandum of Understanding on Ballistic Missile Defence technologies. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Hulme" To: ; Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2003 5:37 PM Subject: new DG-Research at OST > > Keith O'Nions, the Ministry of Defence's chief scientific advisor, is to be > the next director general of the research councils. According to sources > close to the government, he will take over from John Taylor at the end of > the year. O'Nions will be the first academic to be appointed to the post. > Before coming to MoD in 2000 he was head of the department of earth > sciences at the University of Oxford. In contrast, Taylor came to the post > from Hewlett Packard, and his predecessor, John Cadogan, came from BP. > >