James Gilluly

James Gilluly (born June 24, 1896 in Seattle , † December 29, 1980 ) was an American geologist.

Gilluly's father was Irish and his mother was of Württemberg descent. He studied from 1915 at the University of Washington , interrupted from service in the US Navy in World War I and jobs in mines, steel works and in the port to finance his studies. After graduating from university in 1921, he went to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in 1922 . From this he was sent to Bruno Sander in Innsbruck in 1931 to learn his methods of structural science. Gilluly also used the stay for study trips to Eastern Europe. In 1940 he became a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

During the Second World War he was again employed by the USGS in the prospecting of essential minerals and was a military geologist in the Pacific, where he selected beaches for landings, especially in the Philippines . After the war he continued to teach at UCLA, but went back to the USGS in 1950 in the McCarthy era (he saw the required oath as an imposition and was tired of the administrative burdens at the university), where he undertook field explorations in Nevada, among other things.

His textbook on geology was at times a standard work in the USA. He dedicated his later years to the new editions of the book and traveled around the world. He was involved in the debate about the origin of granites and was of the opinion that mountain formation was not limited to certain particularly active phases in the geological past, but took place continuously.

In 1962 he was the 17th William Smith Lecturer of the Geological Society of London , of which he was an honorary member. He received the Walter H. Bucher Medal in 1969 and the Penrose Medal in 1958 . In 1959 he received the US Department of the Interior's highest honor, the Distinguished Service Medal. In 1959 he received an honorary doctorate from Princeton University . He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1949). In 1962 he was head of the geosciences department of the National Research Council. In 1948 he was President of the Geological Society of America .

Fonts

• with AO Woodford, Aaron Waters Principles of Geology , Freeman, San Francisco 1951

Web links

• Biographical Memoirs National Academy