George Wetherill
George West Wetherill (born August 12, 1925 in Philadelphia , † July 19, 2006 in Washington, DC ) was an American geophysicist and astronomer .
Life
Wetherill served in the US Navy during World War II . During this time he taught radar at the Naval Research Laboratory . His degrees up to Ph.D. in Physics (1953) from the University of Chicago . After that, he joined the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism (Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, DTM) of the Carnegie Institution in Washington. In 1960 he became professor of geophysics and geology at the University of California, Los Angeles . From 1975 to 1991 he was director of the DTM at the Carnegie Institution. He died of heart failure on July 19, 2006 at his Washington home.
plant
Wetherill developed methods for determining the age of rocks from the ratio of radioactive isotopes and their decay products. He studied the orbital development of asteroids and other small bodies in the solar system and was the first to predict that stones thrown away by meteorite impacts on Mars could reach the earth. Such meteorites were actually discovered later in Antarctica. He later investigated the formation and development of planetary systems , the formation of earth-like planets and the earth-moon system.
Awards
- 1971 member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- 1974 member of the National Academy of Sciences
- 1979 namesake for the asteroid (2128) Wetherill
- 1981 F. C. Leonard Medal from the Meteoritical Society
- 1984 G. K. Gilbert Prize from the Geological Society of America
- 1986 G. P. Kuiper Prize from the Division of Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society
- 1991 Harry H. Hess Medal from the American Geophysical Union
- 1997 National Medal of Science
- 1998 member of the American Philosophical Society
- 2000 J. Lawrence Smith Medal
- 2003 Henry Norris Russell Lectureship
Fonts
- Formation of the terrestrial planets, Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Volume 18, 1980, pp. 77-113
- Planetesimals- Primordial Material of the Earth? Spectrum of Science, August 1981
Web links
- Publications by GW Wetherill in the Astrophysics Data System
- Obituaries for GW Wetherill in the Astrophysics Data System
- Biography at the APS
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Wetherill, George |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Wetherill, George West (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American geophysicist and astronomer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 12, 1925 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Philadelphia |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 19, 2006 |
| Place of death | Washington, DC |