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Medals and Awards for 1974 Presentation of the Penrose Medal to Maurice Ewing

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Medals and Awards for 1974 Presentation of the Penrose Medal to Maurice Ewing Medals and Awards for 1974 Presentation of the Penrose Medal to Maurice Ewing CITATION BY FRANK C. WHITMORE, JR. It is a source of sorrow to us all that the perience gained in working in water 5 to 20 Geological Observatory, and it was aboard Penrose Medalist is not here to receive the feet deep proved valuable in the present the Lamont schooner Vema that he and his award that he so richly earned; Maurice project." Also in 1937 he wrote, "In its associates made the greater part of their ob- Ewing died last May, still vigorously pursu- present state of development, the method is servations in the Atlantic and elsewhere. In ing the work that has brought us so much not applicable in water deeper than about the decade 1963-1973, the Vema and the knowledge of the seas, the earth, and in- 100 fathoms." By 1938 he was making Research Vessel Robert D. Conrad logged deed of the moon. We are honored that seismic refraction measurements in 1,800 about 675,000 kilometres of traverses in Harriett Ewing, his wife and co-worker, is to 2,600 fathoms. the Atlantic Ocean, making seismic here to accept the medal in his behalf. Not surprisingly, the early offshore work reflection and refraction measurements. Maurice Ewing was a physicist, a was limited by such things as a shortage of This tremendous amount of work would geologist, a seaman, a teacher. People in explosives; Dr. Ewing pointed out that he have been impossible without the physical each of these activities will tell you that could not hope to achieve the accuracy of and theoretical contributions of Ewing and their interest is what he valued above all: observation of which the oil companies his associates, which included development they were seeing one side of a many-faceted were capable simply because he couldn't of a new long-period seismograph and of a man whose capability and zest encom- make enough shots. Joe Peoples tells a tale new theoretical basis for interpreting the passed vast enterprises; who could organize that illustrates the state of oceanic velocity structure of the outer layers of the and execute work involving infinite detail, geophysics in the 1930s. One night Joe got earth. They were able to show that the while possessing the imagination to erect a call at his home in Middletown, Connec- crustal structure of the oceans, as defined at hypotheses synthesizing not only his own ticut. It was Maurice; he and Bert Crary a few locations by refraction techniques, work but the widely diverse work of others were downtown at a restaurant. Joe went characterizes the structure of nearly all the that must be taken into account if we are to to meet them and found that they were driv- oceans. understand what lies beneath the sea. And ing all night from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, As a vertebrate paleontologist, I must in doing this he gathered around him stu- to Woods Hole — Maurice in an ancient mention here the death blow that Ewing dents and associates who collaborated with Buick and Bert in an equally old Dodge dealt to a handy method used by my col- him in a variety of approaches to the study panel truck. Joe got in the Buick and as they leagues to get land animals from one place of the ocean — all of them pursued rigor- rode up to the Wesleyan campus the car to another. In 1949 he wrote: "If there have ously and imaginatively and resulting in ex- lurched over a bump. Joe remarked that the been land bridges across the main ocean ba- citing and useful contributions. This group car rode as if it were loaded pretty heavily. sins, we believe they must have been very of associates is one of Ewing's greatest "Yes," said Maurice, "I've got 500 pounds narrow, covering only a small percentage of legacies. of 80 percent dynamite in the trunk. Bert the total area of the ocean basin, and that The unifying theme of Dr. Ewing's has the caps in the panel truck." Obviously they do not cross any of the areas where we career, from his graduate student days, was satisfied with these safety precautions, he lit have made refraction measurements." seismic reflection and refraction. In 1928, a large cigar. Techniques of core recovery and of sedi- with H. M. Rutherford, he made seismic Dr. Ewing's 35 years of study of the At- ment study kept pace with geophysical measurements in coastal lakes of Louisiana lantic Ocean began with investigation of methods, and the combination of these lead as part of a search for oil-bearing struc- the Atlantic continental slope of North to thought-provoking hypotheses which tures. Nine years later, in the first major re- America aboard the Atlantis and the have had a major effect on the course of port on geophysical investigations of the Oceanographer. In 1949 he founded the subsequent research. Notable among these Atlantic Coastal Plain, he wrote, "The ex- Lamont (later the Lamont-Doherty) is the Ewing-Donn theory of ice ages; Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 86, p. 1161-1168, August 1975, Doc. no. 50817. 1161 Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/86/8/1163/3444215/i0016-7606-86-8-1163.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 1162 THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA, INC. equally significant are analyses of the rela- RESPONSE BY tion between sedimentation and sea-floor HARRIET G. EWING spreading, the significance of turbidites, and climatic indications of ice-rafted de- Thank you, President Allen, and I thank tritus. To Ewing, the sea was not merely a also the members of the committee on the cover drawn over a part of the earth's sur- Penrose Medal, particularly Dr. Whitmore, face; it is dynamic. Reading his work, one for this excellent citation. feels that his motto could have been "The Naturally, above all else, we all wish that ocean is the engine of the world." Maurice Ewing were here to accept this Alexander wept for the lack of new medal himself. Were he here, I know he worlds to conquer; this was not Maurice would tell you of the esteem in which he has Ewing's problem. In 1969, as the culmina- always held the Penrose Medal. Were he tion of ten years' work and planning, the here, he would tell you how happy it made Apollo passive seismic experiment, de- him to be joining such a distinguished signed by Ewing and his associates, was group of geologists and so many good placed on the moon. By 1973 a network of friends as a Penrose Medalist. four stations was operating as "the princi- For myself, I can only say what you know pal means for determining the moon's in- already — that my husband was a great sci- ternal structure, physical state, and tectonic entist who had powerful gifts and a special activity." In 1969 Latham, Ewing, Press, knack for choosing important problems to and Sutton had written: "We stand at the work on. He was a vital and remarkable threshold of the most exciting experiment man in every way. I was greatly blessed in in seismology." That is where Maurice having been associated with him in his Ewing always stood. work for so long, and especially in being his wife. Mr. President, I present to you Mrs. It pleases me very much that he has been Maurice Ewing to receive the Penrose awarded this much-prized medal. Medal for her husband in recognition of all 1 thank you again, all of you, for many he did and of the work, inspired by him, happy times in the past and for this great that will continue for many years. honor you have given Maurice Ewing now. Presentation of the Arthur L. Day Medal to Alfred Edward Ringwood CITATION BY BRIAN J. SKINNER The years following World War II people Jaeger attracted to A.N.U., and for his elucidation of the olivine-spinel brought great changes to Australia. among this stellar cluster the most produc- transition and the demonstration that it is a Foremost among them was the founding of tive, and certainly the noisiest, was Ted transition of significance in the upper man- an unusual institution, the Australian Na- Ringwood. His flood of ideas, forcefully tle. This contribution alone would guaran- tional University, on the sunburnt grass- presented and tenaciously defended, made tee his place in history, but he has done far lands of Canberra. The structure of A.N.U. the world stop and take note. more. He has demonstrated that garnets differs from other universities in Australia As the department grew in size and sta- and pyroxenes can also undergo high pres- in that it is composed of several research ture, it outstripped the School of Physical sure transitions and that they probably schools and a separate teaching unit for un- Sciences. Ringwood was one of the first to occur in the lower mantle. He is nothing if dergraduates. The research schools, which support the extraordinary step of making not versatile; his published contributions closely resemble institutes, are semi- the department a separate school. The uni- now exceed 150, range through lunar pe- autonomous units, and within their versity listened to various advisory commit- trology, the origin of planets, and genera- confines are most of the scholars responsi- tees, debated the problem, and with tion of several magma types to patents for ble for A.N.U.'s meteoric rise to interna- Ringwood's eloquent prodding, finally the extraction of rutile from ilmenite and tional prominence.
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