Clair Cameron Patterson

Signature of Patterson.

Clair Cameron Patterson (born June 2, 1922 in Mitchellville , Iowa , † December 5, 1995 in The Sea Ranch , California ) was an American geochemist .

life and work

In addition to other research that is important for geochemistry, such as the decay of the potassium isotope ⁴⁰ K to ⁴⁰ Ar and ⁴⁰ Ca, Patterson primarily optimized mass spectrometric techniques to determine the lead isotope ratios, which are important for the uranium-lead dating method . The physicist Friedrich Georg Houtermans used uranium- lead isotope measurements that C. Patterson had carried out on the meteorite Canyon Diablo to calculate an earth age of 4.5 billion years, which he published in 1953. Patterson himself had already published an earth age of 4.55 billion years at a conference on Nuclear Processes in Geologic Settings shortly before , but only published it in reviewed scientific journals in 1955/1956. This value determined by him is the age of the earth generally accepted in science to this day. As part of this research, Patterson had to set up a sterile laboratory because all material samples were contaminated with the lead contained in the earth's atmosphere. This drew his attention to the same problem of the excessive lead concentration in the atmosphere, which he addressed after completing his work on the age of the earth.

He developed a method (which is still of great importance in climate research today) to draw conclusions about the composition of the atmosphere prior to 1923 from drill cores in polar ice, since from that year tetraethyl lead was added to gasoline on a large scale . His results clearly showed that the lead concentration had increased steadily from that year.

Through various publications Patterson then tried to make the public aware of the problem of contamination of the natural environment and the food chain with lead from industrial sources. One of his main goals, however, remained to get tetraethyl lead out of gasoline , which caused him to face a strong US business lobby.

Honors

The asteroid (2511) Patterson and Patterson Peak , a mountain in the Antarctic Queen Maud Mountains , were named in his honor. In 1980 he received the VM Goldschmidt Award , in 1987 he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences , whose J. Lawrence Smith Medal he had received in 1973. The Geochemical Society presents the CC Patterson Award annually for outstanding achievements in the field of environmental geochemistry.

Publications

C. Patterson, G. Tilton, and M. Inghram: Age of the Earth . In: Science . tape 121 , 1955, pp. 69–75 , doi : 10.1126 / science.121.3134.69 (English).
C. Patterson: Age of meteorites and the Earth . In: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta . tape 10 , no. 4 , 1956, pp. 230–237 , doi : 10.1016 / 0016-7037 (56) 90036-9 , bibcode : 1956GeCoA..10..230P (English).
C. Patterson: Contaminated and natural lead environments of man . In: Arch. Environ. Health . tape 11 , 1965, pp. 344-360 , doi : 10.1080 / 00039896.1965.10664229 , PMID 14334042 (English).

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ Bill Bryson: A Brief History of Almost Everything . Goldmann Verlag, 2011, ISBN 978-3-641-07924-6 ( limited preview in the Google book search).
^ CC Patterson Award , Geochemical Society website. Retrieved March 27, 2020.

personal data
SURNAME	Patterson, Clair Cameron
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American geochemist who determined the age of the earth
DATE OF BIRTH	June 2, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH	Mitchellville , Iowa
DATE OF DEATH	5th December 1995
Place of death	The Sea Ranch , California

[Bill_Bryson-1] Bill Bryson: A Brief History of Almost Everything . Goldmann Verlag, 2011, ISBN 978-3-641-07924-6 ( limited preview in the Google book search).

[CCPaterson-2] CC Patterson Award , Geochemical Society website. Retrieved March 27, 2020.