Memorial to John Walter Grüner 1890-1981

Memorial to John Walter Grüner 1890-1981 TIBOR ZOLTAI Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Minnesota, 310 Pillsbury Drive S.E., Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455 John W. Gruner was born on July 12, 1890, in Neurode, a small town in Sudetenland, a province of German Prussia. This area is now part of Poland. After graduating from high school, he worked in a wholesale house for two years and made enough money to fulfill his childhood dream to come to America. He arrived in New York in 1912. Within a year he learned enough English and was sufficiently accustomed to the American way of life to obtain a job with the Big Four Railways in Indianapolis as a civil engineer. His duties offered him a chance to travel and see some beautiful areas in the country. This experience no doubt led his inquisitive mind to ponder the origin and history of the Rocky Mountains and other geologic features. Three years after landing at Ellis Island, he enrolled at the University of New Mexico where he studied geology under Professor Charles Kirk and took courses in basic sciences in order to better understand geology and mineralogy. He graduated in 1917 and continued his studies at the University of Iowa under Professor George Kay. A year later, in 1918, he came to the University of Minnesota, which was to be the base of his long and productive career. He started as a research assistant to Professor William H. Emmons and began an intensive study of petrology under Professor Frank F. Grout. He received his master’s degree in the spring of 1919 and accepted a temporary assistant professorship at Oregon State University. A year later he returned to the University of Minnesota as an instructor of geology. He completed the Ph.D. requirement in 1922 and was pro moted to associate professor in 1926 and to full professorship in 1944. With the excep tion of two sabbatical leaves (1926-27 and 1937-38), he taught continuously at the University of Minnesota until his retirement in 1959. He was an excellent and thorough teacher. He set very high standards of performance for himself in both teaching and research. Only the best students could satisfy his expectations. Despite his tough reputa tion, 12 students completed master’s and 28 completed doctor’s programs under his direction. They all became successful members of the scientific or industrial community. The undergraduate students who took his mineralogy courses or physics and geography courses during World War II number in the thousands. Dr. Gruner, JW to his friends, was an equally productive research scientist. He published about 100 scientific papers. He was among the first geologists to teach x-ray diffraction in the United States (1927) and worked on the difficult crystal structure determination of layered silicates. His pioneering work on the Biwabik Iron Formation has provided a sound basis for mineralogic, petrologic, and Stratigraphie study of all iron formations. His mapping of the structure and stratigraphy of the Archean rocks in the Knife Lake area in northeastern Minnesota, completed in 1941, is a classic piece of 2 THK GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OE AMERICA work. His comprehensive book on the mineralogy of the Mesabi Iron Formation was published in 1946, and 35 years later it is still the most important reference book on this subject. His work has stood the test of time, perhaps because his acute powers of observation and attention to detail were combined with a desire to understand broad problems of petrogenesis. During World War II he developed a method and grew large single crystals for the U.S. Army Signal Corps. After World War II he investigated the geology and mineralogy of the Colorado uranium deposits. His contributions to the understanding of radioactive minerals equaled the value of his other studies. He was equally active in professional societies. He was a member of major geo logical societies and was elected a Fellow of the Geological Society of America in 1923, a Fellow of the Mineralogical Society of America in 1927, and a Fellow of the Society of Economic Geologists in 1928. His contributions were appreciated by his colleagues, who elected him president of the Crystallographic Society of America (1947-48), presi dent of the Mineralogical Society of America (1948-49), and vice-president of the Geo logical Society of America (1949-50). After his retirement his contributions to min eralogy were recognized by the award of the Roebling Medal (1962) of the Mineralogical Society of America. Other recognitions of his achievements included an Honorary Doctor of Science degree of the University of New Mexico (1963) and the Distinguished Service Award of the University of Minnesota Chapter of Sigma Xi (1960), in which chapter he served as president (1953-54). In 1965 the University of Minnesota sponsored and the National Science Foundation supported the “International Conference on Rock-Forming Minerals,” which was dedicated to his 75th birthday. In 1972 a group of his former students wrote and dedicated in his honor GSA Memoir 135 entitled Studies in Min eralogy and Precambrian Geology. This publication is commonly referred to as the “Gruner Volume.” In 1919 he married an equally exceptional person, Opal Garrett, who was also a teacher. She taught mathematics to returning veterans in 1946-47 and to junior high school students in 1958-59. She was also active in civic duties. They had three children: Wayne (1921), Hazel (1924), and Garrett (1928), and maintained an ideal and happy marriage until her death in 1966. All of us who were fortunate to know Dr. Gruner as a scientist and as a man bend our heads with sorrow to the will of God. Biographical References Kerr, Paul F., 1963, Presentation of the Roebling Medal to John W. Gruner: American Mineralogist, v. 48, p. 443-445. Doe, Bruce R., 1972, An introduction to John W. Gruner: Geological Society of America Memoir 135, p. vii-xii. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF J. W. GRUNER 1920 Geologic reconnaissance of the southern part of the Taos range, New Mexico: Journal of Geology, v. 28, p. 731-742. 1922 Paragenesis of the martite ore bodies and magnetites of the Mesabi range: Economic Geology, v. 17, p. 1-14. 1923 Algae, believed to be Archean: Journal of Geology, v. 31, p. 146-148. 1924 Contributions to the geology of the Mesabi range, with special reference to the magnetites of the iron-bearing formation west of Mesaba: Minnesota Geological Survey Bulletin, v. 19, 71 p. MEMORIAL TO JOHN WALTER GRÜNER 3 1925 Discovery of life in the Archean: Journal of Geology, v. 33, p. 151-152. 1926 The Soudan Formation and a new suggestion as to the origin of the Vermilion iron ores: Economic Geology, v. 21, p. 629-644. 1927 Outline of the geology of the iron ores and ore production of the Lake Superior region: International Bergwirthschaft, v. 2, 5 p. 1928 The oscillation method of x-ray analysis of crystals: American Mineralogist, v. 13, p. 123-141. ------ Die Struktur des Analcims—I. Die Raumgruppe: Zeitschrift fiir Kristallographie, v. 68, p. 363-378. 1929 Structural reasons for oriented intergrowths in some minerals: American Min eralogist, v. 14, p. 227-237. ------ Structures of sulphides and sulphosalts: American Mineralogist, v. 14, p. 470-481. 1930 Hydrothermal oxidation and leaching experiments: their bearing on the origin of Lake Superior hematite-limonite ores: Economic Geology, v. 25, p. 697-719. 1932 The crystal structure of kaolinite: Zeitschrift fiir Kristallographie, v. 83, p. 75-88. ------ The crystal structure of dickite: Zeitschrift für Kristallographie, v. 83, p. 394-404. ------ Magnesiosussexite, a new mineral from a Michigan iron mine, isomorphous with sussexite and camsellite: American Mineralogist, v. 17, p. 509-513. 1933 The crystal structure of nacrite and a comparison of certain optical properties of the kaolin group with its structure: Zeitschrift fiir Kristallographie, v. 85, p. 345-354. 1934 The crystal structures of talc and pyrophyllite: Zeitschrift fiir Kristallographie, v. 88, p. 412-419. ------ The structure of vermiculites and their collapse by dehydration: American Min eralogist, v. 19, p. 557-575. 1935 The structure relationship of glauconite and mica: American Mineralogist, v. 20, p. 699-714. 1936 The structure and chemical composition of greenalite: American Mineralogist, v. 21, p. 449-455. 1937 Notes on the structure of serpentines: American Mineralogist, v. 22, p. 97-103. ------ Composition and structure of stilpnomelane: American Mineralogist, v. 22, p. 912-925. ------ (and McConnell, D.) The problem of the carbonate-apatites—the structure of francolite: Zeitschrift für Kristallographie, v. 97, p. 208-215. 1939 Ammonium mica synthesized from vermiculite: American Mineralogist, v. 24, p. 428-433. 1943 The chemical relationship of cryptomelane (psilomelane), hollandite, and corona- dite: American Mineralogist, v. 28, p. 497-506. 1944 The composition and structure of minnesotaite, a common iron silicate in iron formations: American Mineralogist, v. 29, p. 363-372. ------ The kaolinite structure of amesite, (OH)8(Mg, Fe^Al^SizAl^Om, and additional data on chlorites: American Mineralogist, v. 29, p. 422-430. ------ The hydrothermal alteration of feldspars in acid solutions between 300° and 400 °C: Economic Geology, v. 39, p. 578-589. 1946 The mineralogy and geology of the taconites and iron ores of the Mesabi range, Minnesota: St. Paul, Minnesota, Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation, 127 p. 1947 Groutite, HMn02, a new mineral of the diaspore-goethite group: American Mineralogist, v. 32, p. 654-659. 1948 Progress in silicate structures: American Mineralogist, v. 33, p. 679-691. 4 THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 1954 The uranium mineralogy of the Colorado Plateau and adjacent regions: Utah Geological Society Guidebook to the Geology of Utah, v. 9, p. 70-77.

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