Christine Mary Rutherford Fowler, FRAS, FGS, FRCGS (born 1950) is a British geophysicist and academic. From 2012 to 2020, she served as the Master of Darwin College, Cambridge. She was previously a lecturer at Royal Holloway, University of London, rising to become Dean of its Faculty of Science.
Fowler was born in 1950 to Rosemary and Peter Fowler.[1] She comes from a family of eminent scientists. A great-grandfather was Ernest Rutherford, the 'father of nuclear physics', her grandfather, Rutherford's son-in-law, was the mathematical physicist Ralph H. Fowler,[2] and her mother Rosemary discovered the kaon, or K meson particle, in 1948.[3]
She studied mathematics at Girton College, Cambridge, graduating with a first class Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1972.[2][4] In 1972 she joined Darwin College, Cambridge to undertake post-graduate studies in geophysics, completing her Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in 1976.[5] Her doctoral thesis was titled "Seismic Studies of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge".[6]
From 1977 to 1978, Fowler was a Royal Society European Fellow at ETH Zürich in Switzerland.[4] She joined the University of Saskatchewan in Canada as a research associate in 1981.[4][7] She was an assistant professor from 1982 to 1983, before returning to her research associate position.[4] She remained associated with the university as an adjunct professor between 1991 and 2001.[4]
In 1992, Fowler joined Royal Holloway, University of London as a lecturer; she was later promoted to senior lecturer.[4][8] Between 2002 and 2008, she was head of the Department of Earth Sciences.[8] She was made Professor of Geophysics in 2003.[4] In 2011, she was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Science.[4]
In April 2012, it was announced that Fowler had been elected the sixth Master of Darwin College, Cambridge.[2] She took up the appointment in October 2012, succeeding William Brown.[7] She retired in 2020 and was succeeded by Dr Michael Rands.[9]
In 1975, Fowler married Euan Nisbet, now a Professor of Earth Sciences at Royal Holloway.[4][10][11] They met at Darwin College, Cambridge while students.[2][10] Together, they have three children: two daughters and a son.[4] Their daughter (Ruth) Ellen Nisbet, who is a biochemist and academic, also studied at Darwin College, Cambridge.[2]
In 1996, Fowler was awarded the Prestwich Medal by the Geological Society of London.[12] She is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (FRAS), a Fellow of the Geological Society of London (FGS), and a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society (FRCGS).[7] In July 2018, Fowler was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science (DSc) by the University of Leeds,[13] and by the University of Edinburgh.[14]