Ann Wintle

After completing her studies, she completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Oxford and then spent two years at Simon Fraser University. In 1979, she moved to Cambridge, and in 1987 was a lecturer at Royal Holloway. She moved to Aberystwyth in 1989 where she was appointed to a personal chair in 1998.^[4] In 2000, she spent time at Uppsala University in Sweden as a guest professor.^[4]

Wintle became an Emeritus Professor at Aberystwyth University in the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences in 2001.^[4][3]

Her work focuses on luminescence dating, a field at the intersection of archaeology, geology and physics. She studies and applies techniques to date samples from sedimentary deposits containing minerals such as quartz or feldspars.^[5] This process is used in archaeology, to date traces of human activity or fossils, and in geology, to trace changes in climate conditions.^[2][5][6]

Wintle is an Honorary Member of the Quaternary Research Association^[5] and a Senior Fellow of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research in Cambridge University.^[4]

In 2008, she won the Institute of Physics Edward Appleton Medal and Prize for her outstanding contribution in the development and application of luminescence properties of minerals as a geological dating tool applicable to the past one million years.^[7]

In 2015, she was awarded the Liu Tungsheng Distinguished Career Medal For Distinguished Service To The International Community In Quaternary Science.^[8]

In 2018, she received the James Croll Medal from the Quaternary Research Association.^[9]

She has received Honorary Doctorates from the University of Uppsala in 2001,^[6] the University of Wollongong, Australia, in 2016 ^[6] as well as the University of Sussex in 2019.^[10] She is recognised for her contributions to the development of the field of luminescence dating, for her collaborative work in establishing luminescence dating research laboratories around the world, and for her mentorship.^[6]