Very rarely, the IAG bestows its most prestigious award of Honorary Fellowship on scientists of great distinction, recognizing the huge contribution they have made to geoanalytical science over a lifetime.
Our first such award was made in 2004 to Professor Stanley Greenfield for his pioneering work in the 1960s on the development of the inductively coupled plasma (ICP) as a spectroscopic source.
Since then, Professor Mike Thompson (in 2008), Dr Henry Longerich (in 2015), Professor Jon Woodhead (in 2018) and Dr Klaus Peter Jochum (2021) have all been awarded an IAG Honorary Fellowship for their outstanding contributions to geoanalysis.
The latest addition to this list of luminaries is Prof Phil Potts, Emeritus Professor of Geoanalysis (Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) at the Open University, UK.
After completing his PhD on computer-based analysis of digitised absorption spectra in inorganic spectroscopy at the University of Leeds, Phil moved to the Open University (OU) in Milton Keynes in 1973 as a Research Fellow and then a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Earth Sciences. From the beginning of his career at the OU, he was engaged in developing analytical methods to enable his fellow geologists to explore new geochemical applications. In one of his early publications (https://doi.org/10.1016/0009-2541(81)90120-0) he critically assessed published data for USGS “standard” rocks in order to refine his own analytical calibrations, indicating that reference materials and interlaboratory comparisons were a priority very early on in his career.
The IAG and Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research (GGR) owe Phil a great debt of gratitude for many of its present and past accomplishments. Not only was Phil one of the prominent architects behind the IAG’s formation, but he also, with colleagues, one of the instigators of the IAG proficiency testing programme GeoPT, developed the IAG’s activities in the certification of geological reference materials, as well as helping negotiate the deal with the publishers Blackwell (now Wiley) to secure GGR’s commercial future. Phil was the IAG’s second President (2000-2003) when the Association was still developing its role, and he designed a strategic plan to put it on a firmer financial footing. Throughout the IAG’s history, Phil has never ceased to think strategically in promoting our science and its practitioners.
One of the IAG’s most significant achievements was the GeoPT proficiency testing programme for silicate rock analysis, which will be celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2026. Phil was essential to the GeoPT programme both behind the scenes and by extracting extra value from the results by publishing a series of papers that evaluate geoanalytical performance issues derived from data published in GeoPT reports.
Once the GeoPT programme was established, Phil turned his attention to the development of IAG reference materials. Over several decades, Phil instigated the organisation of workshops on geochemical reference materials, the first of them in 1994 as part of the Geoanalysis conference. Those interested can access an account of such activities at https://www.geoanalyst.org/certification-history/. In many ways this has now come full circle in that the IAG is now characterising certified reference materials using the properties of assigned values derived from the GeoPT proficiency testing scheme (https://doi.org/10.1111/ggr.12261)
Amongst his substantial contributions to the field of geoanalysis over his long career was the publication of his Handbook of Silicate Rock Analysis (Blackie, 1987). Inevitably much of the content has become outdated because of instrumentation developments and knowledge advancements, so for several years he has been working on a new edition with the assistance of experts in various analytical techniques, and the chapters are being published as a comprehensive series in Geostandards and Geoanalytical Research. When this is complete, all the chapters will be published as a virtual book.
To mark the award of his IAG Honorary Fellowship, Prof Potts gave a lecture entitled ‘The role of the consensus values in the certification of geological reference materials’ alongside an IAG Council meeting in April 2025. This provided an opportunity for him to reflect on the evaluation of data quality after nearly 30 years of the GeoPT proficiency testing programme and related certifications. A recording of the webinar is available here (link to be inserted). Please note that before his lecture, Prof Jacinta Enzweiler gave a valedictory talk highlighting Phil’s many contributions to geoanalytical science and the IAG.