The IsoLab has roots in the Quaternary Isotope Laboratory, founded and directed by Dr. Minze Stuiver between 1969 and 2002. Stuiver, now
Professor Emeritus in the Department of Earth and Space Sciences, is internationally recognized for his numerous contributions to Quaternary
climate and environmental research, and is one of the top-five most highly cited researchers in the field of geosciences. He is best known
for his work on Δ
14C from tree rings, still used as
one of the key data sets for radiocarbon calibration, and on the δ
18O record from
Greenland ice cores, instrumental in the discovery of rapid climate change. The IsoLab, in its current incarnation, was co-founded in 2001 by
Eric J. Steig (a former student of Stuiver) and Roger Buick, and was later joined by Peter Ward and Becky Alexander.