Richard Carlson is a staff scientist in the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. He pursues various applications of isotope and trace element geochemistry and cosmochemistry. His recent work has focused on isotopic anomalies in primitive early solar system materials, early planetary differentiation, the processes that form continental crust and its underlying mantle lithosphere, along with his chemical and isotopic studies of primitive basalts in the HLP Project.