Professor J. William Schopf

1992 Faculty Prize Recipient

Image of William Schopf

William Schopf did his undergraduate work at Oberlin College and then received his Ph.D. from Harvard University. On its completion he joined the UCLA Department of Geology and was promoted within five years to full Professor of Paleobiology. In 1979 he organized the Precambrian Paleobiology Research Group, attracting 24 scholars to UCLA. Their work, after 14 months of study, culminated in a symposium and a volume entitled Earth’s Earliest Biosphere: Its Origins and Evolution. Professor Schopf’s next creation was the Center for the Study of Evolution and Origin of Life (CSEOL). CSEOL comprises 60 members from 20 UCLA departments and research institutes. The graduate students of members of CSEOL are eligible to apply for a CSEOL fellowship and practice research in an exciting, interdisciplinary environment.

Professor Schopf searched for ancient life in many places before his expedition to Warrawoona in Western Australia in 1982. The extensive study of rocks from that area resulted in the discovery of 3.5-billion year-old microbes—the oldest fossils on earth. His research has earned him a worldwide reputation as a leading expert on the origin and evolution of life in the Precambrian era.

Professor Schopf was awarded the UCLA Alumni Association Distinguished Teaching Award in 1977. He has strongly influenced undergraduate teaching at UCLA through his work in the Division of Honors (where he was Dean), on the Summer Research Stipend, the UCLA Undergraduate Science Journal, and a mini-grant program which grew into the now flourishing Student Research Program.

As a Faculty Prize recipient, Professor Schopf designed and taught a special Faculty Prize course open to all undergraduates in 2000 Fall quarter, entitled Nonlife to Life; Microbes to Man: Nature is Not Compartmentalized.