Toshiko K. Mayeda (née Kuki) (1923–13 February 2004) was a Japanese American chemist who worked at the
Enrico Fermi Institute in the
University of Chicago. She worked on climate science and meteorites from 1958 to 2004.
Mayeda worked initially as a laboratory assistant to
Harold Urey at the University of Chicago, where she was hired initially to wash glassware.[6][7] They used
mass spectrometry to measure
oxygen isotopes in the shells of marine
molluscs which gave information on the prehistoric temperatures of ocean waters and hence
paleoclimates.[8] Urey developed the field of
cosmochemistry and with Mayeda studied primitive
meteorites, also by using
oxygen isotope analysis.[9] Later, she worked with
Cesare Emiliani on isotopic evaluation of the
ice age.[10][11] When Urey retired from the university in 1958, Mayeda was persuaded to remain there by
Robert N. Clayton, and collaborate with him on applications of mass spectroscopy.[12] She was described as an indomitable research assistant.[13][14]
Mayeda and Clayton's first research paper considered the use of
Bromine pentafluoride to extract
Isotopes of oxygen from rocks and minerals.[15] It remains their most cited work.[8] From the 1970s until the late 1990s Mayeda and Clayton became famous for their use of oxygen isotopes to classify meteorites.[12] They developed several tests that were used across the field of meteorite and lunar sample analysis.[16][17][18] They studied variations in the abundances of the stable isotopes of oxygen,
oxygen-16,
oxygen-17 and
oxygen-18,[19] and deduced differences in the formation temperatures of the meteorites.[20] They also worked on the mass spectroscopy and chemistry of the
Allende meteorite.[12][21] They published many scientific papers on the "oxygen thermometer" and analysed approximately 300 lunar samples that had been collected during
NASAsApollo Program.[8][14]
In 1992, a new type of meteorite, the
Brachinite, was identified.[22] Clayton and Mayeda studied the
Achondrite meteorites and showed that variations in the oxygen-17 isotope ratios within a planet are due to inhomogeneities in the
Solar Nebula.[23] They analysed
Shergotty meteorites, proposing that there could have been a water-rich atmosphere on
Mars[24] and studied the Bocaiuva meteorite, finding that the
Eagle Station meteorite was formed due to impact heating.[25]
In 2002 Mayeda was awarded the Society Merit Prize from the
Geochemical Society of Japan.[7] In the same year, an asteroid was named after her.[7] Mayeda's husband, Harry, died in 2003. Mayeda suffered from cancer and died on February 13, 2004.[7] In 2008, the book Oxygen in the Solar System was dedicated to Clayton and Mayeda.[26]
^Shindell, Matthew (2019). The Life and Science of Harold C. Urey. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press.
ISBN9780226662084.
^Emiliani, C.; Mayeda, T.; Selli, R. (1961). "Paleotemperature Analysis of the Plio-Pleistocene Section at Le Castella, Calabria, Southern Italy". Geological Society of America Bulletin. 72 (5): 679.
doi:
10.1130/0016-7606(1961)72[679:PAOTPS]2.0.CO;2.
ISSN0016-7606.
^The composition of matter : symposium honouring Johannes Geiss on the occasion of his 80th birthday. Steiger, R. von (Rudolf), Gloeckler, G., Mason, G. M. (Glenn Marggraf), 1943-, Geiss, Johannes., International Space Science Institute. New York: Springer. 2007.
ISBN9780387741840.
OCLC209984881.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (
link)
^Wood, John A. (1982). "Citation on the Award of the Leonard Medal of the Meteoritical Society to Dr. Robert N. Clayton". Meteoritics. 17 (4): 171–174.
doi:
10.1111/j.1945-5100.1982.tb00090.x.
^Clayton, Robert N.; Mayeda, Toshiko K. (1963-01-01). "The use of bromine pentafluoride in the extraction of oxygen from oxides and silicates for isotopic analysis". Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. 27 (1): 43–52.
Bibcode:
1963GeCoA..27...43C.
doi:
10.1016/0016-7037(63)90071-1.
ISSN0016-7037.
^Clayton, R. N.; Onuma, N.; Grossman, L.; Mayeda, T. K. (1977-03-01). "Distribution of the pre-solar component in Allende and other carbonaceous chondrites". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 34 (2): 209–224.
Bibcode:
1977E&PSL..34..209C.
doi:
10.1016/0012-821X(77)90005-X.
ISSN0012-821X.
^E., Nehru, C.; M., Prinz; K., Weisberg, M.; M., Ebihara; N., Clayton, R.; K., Mayeda, T. (July 1992). "Brachinites: A New Primitive Achondrite Group". Meteoritics. 27 (3): 267.
Bibcode:
1992Metic..27R.267N.
ISSN0026-1114.{{
cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)
^Malvin, Daniel J.; Wasson, John T.; Clayton, Robert N.; Mayeda, Toshiko K.; Curvello, Walter Silva (1985). "Bocaiuva-A Silicate-Inclusion Bearing Iron Meteorite Related to the Eagle-Station Pallasites". Meteoritics. 20 (2): 259–273.
Bibcode:
1985Metic..20..259M.
doi:
10.1111/j.1945-5100.1985.tb00864.x.
ISSN0026-1114.