Maureen Steiner, Pioneer in the Study of the Magnetic Polarity Timescale

Abstract This perspective is in memory of Maureen Steiner (1944–2023), who was a pioneer in the study of geomagnetism and paleomagnetism. Over an approximately 50‐year‐long career, she made many contributions to the study of geomagnetic history and its application to diverse geological problems. These included studies of cores from the Pacific Ocean basin as part of the Offshore Drilling Program that bore on understanding of the oldest magnetic history recorded on the seafloor. Steiner applied paleomagnetic data to the question of whether and how much the Colorado Plateau had rotated. She undertook foundational research on Permian and Mesozoic magnetostratigraphy that began the development of the magnetic polarity timescale for those time intervals. She also first advocated the likely correct age of the Permian Illawara reversal. Maureen Steiner was the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in geophysics from the University of Texas at Dallas and one of the first women to become a prominent geophysicist. Her career laid the foundation for much important science that followed.