Clive Oppenheimer

By Sara L. Austin, EdD

Clive Oppenheimer is a professor of volcanology at the University of Cambridge’s Department of Geography. He earned a B.A. from University of Cambridge, where he studied their Natural Sciences Tripos, and a Ph.D from Open University. Oppenheimer has done substantial research work in Antarctica.

While in Antarctica, where he spent 13 seasons, he lived and worked on Mount Erebus, which is Antarctica’s second largest volcano and the most active volcano in the Southern Hemisphere. He was even invited by the North Korean government, with a couple of colleagues, to study volcanic activity at Baekdu Mountain. He is a noted expert in geoarchaeology and volcanic processes.

He is well known on British radio, with appearances on BBC’s Radio 4 on broadcasts such as The Infinite Monkey Cage and The Museum of Curiosity. His book, Eruptions That Shook the World, inspired Werner Herzog’s film, Into the Inferno. He has been awarded the Royal Geographical Society’s Murchison Award and the Leif Erikson Award. He is a founding member of Cambridge Volcanology.

He is currently collaborating with Werner Herzog on a film about meteors and meteorites, titled, Fireball. In 2017, Oppenheimer received a nomination for an Emmy award for outstanding science documentary for his collaboration on Into the Inferno.

Academic Website

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