PETER JOHN WYLLIE (b. 1930) INTERVIEWED BY SHIRLEY K. COHEN March 19 and 29, April 2 and 9, 2002 Peter Wyllie, 1986 ARCHIVES CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Pasadena, California Subject area Geology and planetary sciences; physics Abstract An interview in four sessions, March and April 2002, with Peter John Wyllie, professor of geology, emeritus, in the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences. Dr. Wyllie received his undergraduate and graduate education at the University of St Andrews, in Scotland (BSc, geology and physics, 1952; BSc, geology, 1955, honors; PhD 1958). Joined Caltech faculty 1983 as chair of the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, remaining chairman until 1987. Served as divisional academic officer 1994-1999 and became professor emeritus in 1999. In this interview, he recalls growing up in England, his grammar school education, national service, undergraduate career at St Andrews, and participation http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Wyllie_P in two British Greenland Expeditions (1950 and 1952-1954). Graduate work with Harald Drever at St Andrews, continuing under O. F. Tuttle at Penn State. Postdoc at Leeds University, U.K., 1959-1961. Returned to Penn State in 1961 as associate professor of geochemistry. Moved to the University of Chicago in 1965, remaining for eighteen years and chairing the Department of Geophysical Sciences before coming to Caltech. He discusses his division chairmanship, teaching the introductory geology course, and the evolution of the division’s curriculum, particularly under chairman Edward M. Stolper. Recalls his involvement with various geological societies and receipt of several awards, including Wollaston Medal (1982) and Roebling Medal, Mineralogical Society of America (2001). Discusses his work on the National Academy of Sciences’ first national survey of earth sciences. Discusses high-pressure experimental petrology at Penn State, Chicago, and Caltech with various graduate students and postdocs, including Gus Koster van Groos, David Watkinson, John K. Robertson, Wuu-Liang Huang, and Who-jer Lee. Comments on the current state of the division as it moves into an era of global change and collaboration with environmental engineering. Administrative information Access The interview is unrestricted. Copyright Copyright has been assigned to the California Institute of Technology © 2004, 2017. All requests for permission to publish or quote from the transcript must be submitted in writing to the University Archivist and Head, Special Collections. Preferred citation Wyllie, Peter John. Interview by Shirley K. Cohen. Pasadena, California, March 19 and 29, April 2 and 9, 2002. Oral History Project, California Institute of Technology Archives. Retrieved [supply date of retrieval] from the World Wide Web: http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Wyllie_P Contact information Archives, California Institute of Technology Mail Code B215-74 Pasadena, CA 91125 Phone: (626)395-2704 Fax: (626)395-4073 Email: [email protected] Graphics and content © 2017 California Institute of Technology. http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Wyllie_P CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ARCHIVES ORAL HISTORY PROJECT INTERVIEW WITH PETER JOHN WYLLIE BY SHIRLEY K. COHEN PASADENA, CALIFORNIA Copyright © 2004, 2017 by the California Institute of Technology http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Wyllie_P Wyllie-ii TABLE OF CONTENTS INTERVIEW WITH PETER JOHN WYLLIE Session 1 1-10 Family roots in London; father’s work for Shell Oil, Venezuela. Grammar school in London; Harkness residential scholarship to University of St Andrews, 1948; signs up for geology course; university career preceded by less than 18 months’ national service with Air Training Corps. Boxing since age seven or eight; bout at Queensbury Club, London, 1945, age fifteen; RAF Scotland heavyweight boxing champion 1949. 10-26 Life at St Andrews: plays rugby, captains boxing team; president, Athletic Union; Miller Prize for best graduate in science, 1952. Golf at St Andrews. Prof. H. Drever recruits him to geology. Member British West Greenland Expedition with Drever, summer 1950; breaks neck in rugby match, second year. BSc in physics and geology, 1952. British North Greenland Expedition 1952-54. First-class honors degree, geology, 1955; three-year PhD program supervised by Drever. Marries Romy 1956; joins O. F. Tuttle’s high-pressure group in experimental petrology, Penn State, and continues work on PhD. PhD in geology, St Andrews, 1958, in absentia. Looks for postdoc in U.K. 27-36 Research fellow in chemistry, Leeds University, 1959; builds high-pressure lab; becomes lecturer in geology. 1960, International Geological Congress, Copenhagen, and International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics meeting in Helsinki. Lack of excitement in Britain re research. In Copenhagen, meets friends from Penn State; returns to Penn State 1961 as assoc. prof. of geochemistry, having declined offer of asst. professorship at Caltech. Moves to University of Chicago, 1965; neighborhood and children’s schooling; master of the college, assoc. dean of Division of Physical Sciences, chair of Dept. of Geophysical Sciences. Publishes Ultramafic and Related Rocks (1967), The Dynamic Earth (1971), The Way the Earth Works (1976). Quantrell Teaching Award for excellence in undergraduate teaching, 1979. Session 2 37-48 Declines invitation of department chairmanship, MIT, 1980. Comes to Caltech as chair of Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, 1983; division’s reputation for dissension. Chairmanship and interaction with provost R. E. Vogt. Feels unappreciated; resigns division chair, 1987; replaced by G. Wasserburg. Foreign associate, U.S. National Academy of Sciences, 1981; other foreign academy memberships. Wasserburg’s tenure as division chair, conflict with J. Kirschvink, and 1989 resignation. http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Wyllie_P Wyllie-iii 49-59 Research on magmas and volatile components under high-pressure conditions, with two high- pressure presses he brought from Chicago to Caltech. Teaches introductory geology course. Curriculum revision; the importance of earth sciences education. Works to have earth sciences included in “menu” curriculum; undergraduates’ increased interest in geology as a result. 59-66 Works with H. Daily, director of public affairs, to send graduate students into Pasadena schools to stimulate interest in science. Joins Caltech’s Committee on Secondary School Relations, 1990; involvement with YESS [Young Engineers and Science Students]; work of J. Bower; involvement with CAPSI (Caltech Pre-college Science Intiative). Academic officer for division 1994-1999; E. M. Stolper as chair; reorganization of division’s undergraduate curriculum into comprehensive course sequences. Chairman, Student Affairs Review Committee, 1994. Session 3 67-78 Romy’s role as chairman’s wife. General British lack of incentive to pursue research. Involvement in administration of various geological societies. President of International Mineralogical Association. Controversy in IMA when decision to meet in Beijing in 1990 is upheld after Tiananmen Square uprising, 1989; U.S. government’s banning of foreign nationals from scientific meetings in the U.S. 78-90 Vice president, 1991, president, 1995, International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics. Involvement with UNESCO 1999 World Conference on Science. 1988-1993, chair of National Research Council Committee on the Status and Research Objectives in the Solid Earth Sciences; committee conducts first national survey of earth sciences, resulting in 1993 report Solid-Earth Sciences and Society. Concern with earth systems science. Session 4 91-102 His graduate students and postdocs: G. Koster van Groos on liquid immiscibility; D. H. Watkinson on limestone-assimilation hypothesis; carbonatite magmas ; J. K. Robertson on water-undersaturated experiments; W.-L. Huang (1970s) and W.-J. Lee (1990s) on the effect of carbon dioxide on the mantle. Papers with A. Boettcher (later Montana). Others. Awarded Roebling Medal, Mineralogical Society of America, 2001; Leopold von Buch Medal, German Geological Society, 2001; Wollaston Medal, Geological Society of London, 1982; Abraham- Gottlob-Werner Medaille, German Mineralogical Society, 1987. 102-111 Geology division’s current direction; disappearance of old guard; new faculty, blending of http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Wyllie_P Wyllie-iv seismologists into division; planetary sciences faculty; work on global change; collaboration with environmental engineering; lack of women faculty. Romy’s contribution to Caltech through Caltech Architectural Tours; her book, Caltech’s Architectural Heritage: From Spanish Tile to Modern Stone; made honorary Caltech alumna, 1996. http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Wyllie_P CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ARCHIVES ORAL HISTORY PROJECT Interview with Peter J. Wyllie by Shirley K. Cohen Pasadena, California Session 1 March 19, 2002 Session 2 March 29, 2002 Session 3 April 2, 2002 Session 4 April 9, 2002 Begin Tape 1, Side 1 COHEN: Good morning, Dr. Wyllie. It’s good of you to come and do this interview with us. WYLLIE: Good morning. COHEN: Maybe we could start by having you tell us a little bit about your family—your father, your mother, what they did, and where they lived. WYLLIE: They were both born in London, England. I was never quite sure what my father did before they got married. I know that he went off to Venezuela with Shell Oil Company as a camp boss. All I remember is that he said he used to run