Prof. Fred Jourdan

Fred Jourdan is a geochronologist and geochemist.

Professor Fred Jourdan is a geochronologist and geochemist in the School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, at Curtin University, Australia. Since 2007, he is the director and primary user of the Western Australian Argon Isotope Facility (part of the John de Laeter Center) dedicated to 40Ar/39Ar geochronology. He is actively working on developing the laboratory and tackle unusual scientific problems.

Research: Prof. Jourdan’s research focuses on the application and development of the 40Ar/39Ar chronometer to establish temporal constraints on large igneous provinces, volcanic activity, and impact craters on Earth and throughout the solar system. His expertise also include application of isotopic and elemental geochemistry to magmatic processes. Dr Jourdan has a strong record in the methodological development of the 40Ar/39Ar dating technique. His expertise in applying the 40Ar/39Ar dating technique to a range of geological problems is demonstrated by numerous collaborations in archaeology, tectonics, volcanology and planetary sciences. His work has led to more than 200 published papers.

Teaching: Prof. Jourdan is unit coordinator of Fundamentals of Geology – 1 (FOG1) where he teaches Earth and Planetary Sciences to large cohorts of students. He is passionate about teaching and uses a relax, yet engaging approach to learning where he uses flip and micro-flip pedagogies supported by the usage of emerging technology such as Echo360 real time online quizzes and Groupmap online brainstorming tools.

Service: Prof. Jourdan is Head of the discipline Geology and Associate Editor for the journal Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta. He is the Radiation Safety supervisor of Geology.

Outreach: He is committed to actively transmit his passion for science to the public through school visits, radio interviews and news articles, museum seminars and popular magazine articles. He is an active participant of Scientist in School (a CSIRO initiative). He also regularly organizes guided tours of the laboratories of the JdL Centre for primary school students. Follow Prof. Jourdan on Twitter (@Jourdan_Fred).