UT Geodynamicist Thorsten Becker elected to German Academy of Sciences | Jackson School of Geosciences

March 30, 2026

Thorsten Becker, a professor at The University of Texas at Austin Jackson School of Geosciences, has been elected a member of the German Academy of Sciences, Leopoldina, one of the oldest and most prestigious academies of science in the world.

Becker joins as only one of three geodynamicists to be elected to the organization in its over 400-year history.

“It is a great honor to be elected to Leopoldina and join a select group of geodynamicists,” said Becker. “I take this as a much welcome recognition of our team efforts, the support of many friends and colleagues, and the appreciation of the importance of solid Earth system science more generally.”

Becker is a professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics (UTIG) within the Jackson School, and a faculty associate at the Oden Institute for Computational Engineering & Sciences. His diverse research portfolio includes studying the dynamics of the lithosphere and mantle system, present-day plate tectonics and planetary evolution.

Recently, Becker was part of the team that discovered that the underside of the North American Continent is dripping, a process called cratonic thinning that has never been captured in action before. Becker also helped researchers understand the role the Earth’s mantle played in the formation of a large land bridge in the Arabian Peninsula that connected Asia and Africa 20 million years ago and played a pivotal role in human evolution. Becker works with numerous international collaborators to understand large earthquakes, including the Megathrust Modeling Framework, with the goal of one day using supercomputers to potentially assess the likelihood of earthquakes.

“Becker is a leader in the field of computational solid Earth geosciences and one of the most prominent and innovative geodynamicists of our generation. Combined with his recent AGU Fellow recognition, this tremendous German Academy honor demonstrates Becker’s global leadership in this field,” said Danny Stockli, interim dean of the Jackson School.

Dr. Onno Oncken, a professor at Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences and member of Leopoldina, nominated Becker, praising his work in seismic tomography, leadership in international research consortia, and service to the scientific community.

“Thorsten will make an important contribution to the development of the Geosciences Section and the fulfillment of Leopoldina’s tasks with his excellent achievements,” Oncken said. “With Thorsten Becker, the Leopoldina in general and the Geosciences Section in particular would gain a highly respected and committed scientist with great potential for the future.”

To be elected to Leopoldina, scientists must be nominated by an existing member of the academy.

Demian Saffer, the director of UTIG, praised Becker’s exceptional contributions to the institute and the international impact of his research.

“Election to the German Academy is a tremendous honor, and a deeply deserved recognition of Thorsten’s work in driving the field of geophysics forward, particularly in bringing increasingly computational and quantitative approaches to problems in geodynamics and tectonics,” Saffer said.

The German Academy of Sciences, Leopoldina, was founded in 1652 in Schweinfurt/Germany and has elected world-famous scientists such as Marie Curie, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein and others to its organization. Leopoldina is the oldest continuously existing academy of natural sciences and medicine in the world and provides policymakers and communities around the world with science-based advice for decision making.

Becker currently holds the Shell Foundation Distinguished Chair in Geophysics at the Jackson School of Geosciences. He is a past Chair of the Standing Committee on Solid Earth Geophysics and past member of the Board of Earth Sciences and Resources at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.