The Evolution of Life on Earth Through Deep Time
Laureate: Andrew H. Knoll (Harvard University)
About This Prize
The 2022 Crafoord Prize in Geosciences was awarded to Andrew H. Knoll (Harvard University) for “fundamental contributions to the understanding of the evolution of life on Earth and its interactions with Earth’s changing environments.” Knoll’s pioneering research on Precambrian fossils, geochemistry, and paleobiology revealed how life and Earth co-evolved over four billion years — from the earliest microbial communities to the Cambrian explosion of animal life.
★ Laureate Lectures
Andrew H. Knoll
Harvard University, Cambridge, USA
“The Deep History of Life”
Knoll’s Crafoord Prize Lecture surveying four billion years of life’s history, from the earliest microbial ecosystems through the oxygenation of the atmosphere to the rise of complex multicellular organisms.
Andrew H. Knoll
Harvard University, Cambridge, USA
“Phytoplankton in Space and Time”
Knoll traces the evolutionary history of marine phytoplankton, examining how these microscopic photosynthesizers shaped ocean chemistry, atmospheric oxygen, and global carbon cycles across geological time.
◆ Invited Lectures
Nicholas J. Butterfield
University of Cambridge, UK
“Pumping and Swimming Through Time”
Butterfield explores how the evolution of animal locomotion and filter feeding fundamentally transformed marine ecosystems, ocean mixing, and biogeochemical cycles.
Shuhai Xiao
Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA
“The Fossil Record of Early Animals”
Xiao presents Ediacaran and early Cambrian fossil evidence that illuminates the timing and environmental context of the earliest animal evolution.
Rosalind E. M. Rickaby
University of Oxford, UK
“Exploring Extant Algae for Signals of Ancient Atmospheres as Influenced by Life”
Rickaby uses modern algal physiology and carbon-concentrating mechanisms as proxies to reconstruct past atmospheric CO₂ levels and their biological feedbacks.
Donald E. Canfield
University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
“A Case for an Active Eukaryotic Marine Biosphere During the Proterozoic Era”
Canfield argues that eukaryotes played a more significant ecological role in Proterozoic oceans than previously assumed, challenging the view of a purely prokaryotic “boring billion.”
Susannah M. Porter
University of California, Santa Barbara, USA
“The Rise of Eukaryotes”
Porter traces the fossil and molecular evidence for the diversification of eukaryotes, from the earliest protists through the origin of major eukaryotic lineages in the Neoproterozoic.
Kliti Grice
Curtin University, Perth, Australia
“Significance of Microbes During Mass Extinction Events & Their Role in Exceptional Fossil Preservation”
Grice examines the role of microbial communities during mass extinction events, using organic geochemistry (biomarkers) to reveal how microbes thrived in crisis ecosystems and facilitated exceptional fossil preservation.
Key Concepts
- • Precambrian Paleobiology: The study of life during Earth’s first four billion years, when microbial and early eukaryotic ecosystems dominated
- • Great Oxidation Event: The rise of atmospheric oxygen ~2.4 billion years ago, driven by cyanobacterial photosynthesis and transforming Earth’s surface chemistry
- • Proterozoic Eukaryotes: The diversification of complex cells during the “boring billion” era, laying the groundwork for multicellular life
- • Ediacaran Biota: The first large, complex multicellular organisms (~635–538 Ma), preceding the Cambrian explosion of animal life
- • Biomarkers: Molecular fossils preserved in ancient rocks that reveal the presence and activity of specific biological communities
- • Mass Extinctions: Catastrophic biodiversity crises that restructured ecosystems and opened ecological opportunities for surviving lineages