Each year in late April, The Franklin Institute recognizes outstanding accomplishments in science with its Franklin Medals, given in the fields of Life Science, Physics, Computer and Cognitive Science, Chemistry, Engineering, and Earth Science.

This year's recipient in Earth Science is Dr. Alexandra Navrotsky, Professor of Ceramic, Earth, and Environmental Materials Chemistry at the University of California at Davis. As implied by her title, Dr. Navrotsky's expertise crosses several related fields: geosciences, chemistry, and materials science. One of her specialties is understanding how materials behave when they're subjected to high temperatures and pressures, as happens deep inside the earth.

Her research has helped establish the structure of the materials that make up our planet hundreds of miles down, in the layer called the mantle, where the rocks can't be directly observed. There, the temperature and pressure is so extreme that solid rock actually begins to behave like a very thick fluid.