World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!
Roger E. Summons

Roger E. Summons

Award Badge
Earth Science
USA
2026

D-Index & Metrics

Earth Science

D-Index
107
Citations
40625
World Ranking
93
National Ranking
45

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2026 - Research.com Earth Science in United States Leader Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Earth Science in United States Leader Award
  • 2020 - Member of the National Academy of Sciences
  • 2008 - Fellow of the Royal Society, United Kingdom
  • 2006 - Fellow of American Geophysical Union (AGU)
  • 1998 - Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science

Overview

Roger E. Summons is affiliated with MIT in the United States and has an extensive research portfolio in Earth and Planetary Sciences as well as Environmental Science. Their work spans multiple interconnected fields and subfields, reflecting a broad interest in natural processes and molecular biology. The main fields of study include:

  • Earth and Planetary Sciences
  • Environmental Science

Their subfields of research cover diverse scientific areas such as:

  • Paleontology
  • Ecology
  • Molecular Biology
  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Mechanics of Materials

Roger E. Summons has contributed to topics including:

  • Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
  • Hydrocarbon exploration and reservoir analysis
  • Geology and Paleoclimatology Research
  • Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena
  • Planetary Science and Exploration
  • Geochemistry and Elemental Analysis
  • Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology

Their scholarly output features papers published in prominent venues. Frequent publication venues include:

  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
  • Nature Communications
  • Geobiology
  • Geology
  • Journal of Geophysical Research Planets

Notable recent papers authored or co-authored by Summons span from 2020 to 2021:

  • Lipid biomarkers: molecular tools for illuminating the history of microbial life, 2021, Nature Reviews Microbiology
  • Elevated rates of horizontal gene transfer in the industrialized human microbiome, 2021, Cell
  • On impact and volcanism across the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary, 2020, Science
  • Indigenous and exogenous organics and surface-atmosphere cycling inferred from carbon and oxygen isotopes at Gale crater, 2020, Nature Astronomy
  • Microbial life in the nascent Chicxulub crater, 2020, Geology

The scientist collaborates frequently with a set of coauthors, including:

  • Xingqian Cui
  • T. Evans
  • Benjamin T. Uveges
  • Gareth Izon
  • Felix J. Elling

Roger E. Summons has received several honors over the years. These include:

  • Member of the National Academy of Sciences (2020)
  • Fellow of the Royal Society, United Kingdom (2008)
  • Fellow of American Geophysical Union (AGU) (2006)
  • Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (1998)

Best Publications

  • Archean molecular fossils and the early rise of eukaryotes

    Jochen J. Brocks;Graham A. Logan;Roger Buick;Roger E. Summons

  • A Serpentinite-Hosted Ecosystem: The Lost City Hydrothermal Field

    Deborah S. Kelley;Jeffrey A. Karson;Gretchen L. Früh-Green;Dana R. Yoerger

  • 2-Methylhopanoids as biomarkers for cyanobacterial oxygenic photosynthesis

    Roger E. Summons;Linda L. Jahnke;Janet M. Hope;Graham A. Logan

  • Oxidation of the Ediacaran Ocean

    D. A. Fike;J. P. Grotzinger;J. P. Grotzinger;L. M. Pratt;R. E. Summons

  • A habitable fluvio-lacustrine environment at Yellowknife Bay, Gale crater, Mars.

    J. P. Grotzinger;D. Y. Sumner;L. C. Kah;K. Stack

  • Photic Zone Euxinia During the Permian-Triassic Superanoxic Event

    Kliti Grice;Changqun Cao;Gordon D. Love;Michael E. Böttcher

  • Formation of sphalerite (ZnS) deposits in natural biofilms of sulfate-reducing bacteria.

    Matthias Labrenz;Gregory K. Druschel;Tamara Thomsen-Ebert;Benjamin Gilbert

  • Fossil steroids record the appearance of Demospongiae during the Cryogenian period

    Gordon D. Love;Gordon D. Love;Emmanuelle Grosjean;Charlotte Stalvies;David A. Fike

  • Intact polar membrane lipids in prokaryotes and sediments deciphered by high-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization multistage mass spectrometry--new biomarkers for biogeochemistry and microbial ecology.

    Helen F. Sturt;Roger E. Summons;Kristin Smith;Marcus Elvert

  • Biomarker evidence for green and purple sulphur bacteria in a stratified Palaeoproterozoic sea

    Jochen J. Brocks;Gordon D. Love;Roger E. Summons;Roger E. Summons;Andrew H. Knoll

  • Dynamics of the Neoproterozoic carbon cycle

    Daniel H. Rothman;John M. Hayes;Roger E. Summons

  • Identification of aryl isoprenoids in source rocks and crude oils: Biological markers for the green sulphur bacteria

    R.E. Summons;T.G. Powell

  • Bacterial Vesicles in Marine Ecosystems

    Steven J. Biller;Florence Schubotz;Sara E. Roggensack;Anne W. Thompson

  • Carbon isotope evidence for the stepwise oxidation of the Proterozoic environment

    David J. Des Marais;Harald Strauss;Roger E. Summons;J. M. Hayes

  • Terminal Proterozoic reorganization of biogeochemical cycles

    Graham A. Logan;J. M. Hayes;Glenn B. Hieshima;Roger E. Summons

  • Organic matter preserved in 3-billion-year-old mudstones at Gale crater, Mars.

    Jennifer L. Eigenbrode;Roger E. Summons;Andrew Steele;Caroline Freissinet

  • Volatile, Isotope, and Organic Analysis of Martian Fines with the Mars Curiosity Rover

    L. A. Leshin;P. R. Mahaffy;C. R. Webster;M. Cabane

  • Organic molecules in the Sheepbed Mudstone, Gale Crater, Mars

    Caroline Freissinet;Caroline Freissinet;D. P. Glavin;Paul R. Mahaffy;K. E. Miller

  • Volatile and organic compositions of sedimentary rocks in Yellowknife Bay, Gale crater, Mars.

    Douglas W. Ming;P. D. Archer;D. P. Glavin;J. L. Eigenbrode

  • Molecular and isotopic analysis of anaerobic methane-oxidizing communities in marine sediments

    Kai Uwe Hinrichs;Roger E. Summons;Victoria Orphan;Sean P. Sylva

  • Steroids, triterpenoids and molecular oxygen

    Roger E Summons;Alexander S Bradley;Linda L Jahnke;Jacob R Waldbauer

Frequent Co-Authors

Paul R. Mahaffy
Paul R. Mahaffy Goddard Space Flight Center
Daniel P. Glavin
Daniel P. Glavin Goddard Space Flight Center
Andrew Steele
Andrew Steele Carnegie Institution for Science
Gordon D. Love
Gordon D. Love University of California, Riverside
John P. Grotzinger
John P. Grotzinger California Institute of Technology
David S. Letham
David S. Letham Australian National University
Kliti Grice
Kliti Grice Curtin University
Kai-Uwe Hinrichs
Kai-Uwe Hinrichs University of Bremen
Dianne K. Newman
Dianne K. Newman California Institute of Technology
Rafael Navarro-González
Rafael Navarro-González National Autonomous University of Mexico

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