Kirtley F. Mather

Kirtley F. Mather (1888-1978)

Kirtley Fletcher Mather (born February 13, 1888 in Chicago , † May 5, 1978 in Albuquerque ) was an American geologist and faculty member of Harvard University . Mather was not only - as an expert in petrogeology and mineralogy - a prominent scientist of his time, but also known as an advocate of academic freedom , a social activist and critic of McCarthyism . Noteworthy also its efforts to harmonize the dialogue between science and religion , its role in the Scopes Monkey Trial ( Monkey process ) from 1925, his support of the theory of Erdkrustenverschiebung (ECD) by Charles H. Hapgood and his dedicated promotion of educational programs for adults.

Childhood and youth

Kirtley Mather was the second of six children of William Green Mather (1855-1937) and Julia Sabrina King (1860-1938). His father, William, was the son of a Baptist preacher, and Kirtley's other relatives, such as Increase and Cotton Mather , were well-known Puritan preachers from New England . The religious character of his family had an impact on the development of a strong social consciousness in him from an early age.

Mather was born in Chicago , Illinois , where he grew up and graduated from South Chicago High School in 1904. After two first years of study at the University of Chicago , he switched to the Baptist-oriented Denison University , where his older brother also studied. After graduating there in 1909, he returned to the University of Chicago, where he received his Ph.D. PhD.

Scientific career

As a university scientist, Mather's interests and core competencies lay in the fields of petrogeology and mineralogy. In terms of teaching, he began lecturing at the University of Arkansas (1911–1914) while he was still working on his dissertation . After completing his graduate studies, he held faculty positions at Queens University (1915-1918) and Denison University (1918-1924) before he began teaching at Harvard University for thirty years in 1924. In 1925 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . While working as a professor at Harvard acted Mather temporarily as a professor ( chairman ) of the Geological Faculty. In addition to teaching at Harvard, he was also director of the Harvard Summer School from 1933 to 1938 . Even after his retirement in 1954, he continued to work scientifically as a freelance faculty member at the University of New Mexico .

Mather was a staunch advocate of easily accessible adult education programs. Although he was associated with an elite university for 30 years, he was guided by the conviction that the interests of democracy were served more through adult education and educational programs for all citizens. In this context, Mather was also a distinguished supporter of Dorothy Hewitt and the Boston Center for Adult Education, which she founded .

Mather and the "monkey trial"

Mather gained some notoriety through his involvement as a scientist in the so-called "monkey trial" of 1925, in which the educator John Thomas Scopes had to answer in a court in Dayton , Tennessee for having taught the theory of evolution at a public school. At the trial, Mather not only testified in favor of the defendant, but also helped Scopes' attorney Clarence Darrow prepare for his questioning of William Jennings Bryan , who was the prosecutor's assistant. Mather's biographer, Kennard Baker Bork, noted in connection with his involvement in this process that the geologist had recognized the dangers of a literal interpretation of the Bible as practiced by parts of the religious right as early as 1924. Enraged by the methods and claims of the anti-evolutionists, he declared that his love of religion, as well as his devotion to science, led him to oppose William Jennings Bryan and the accusers of biological evolution.

Mather and Charles H. Hapgoods "ECD"

In the second half of the 1950s, Kirtley F. Mather began to study the controversial theory of earth crust displacement (ECD) by Charles Hapgood , which he - even if it came from a "non-geologist" - professionally as so interesting and worth discussing that he finally agreed to contribute with a foreword to the British, Spanish and Italian first editions of Hapgood's 1958 work Earth's Shifting Crust (also published in The Path of The Pole in 1968 ). In it he appealed to his colleagues in the face of a recognizable refusal to discourse on the part of the geological mainstream: "The numerous unsolved problems to which Mr. Hapgood draws our attention should be made the subject of intense debates by scientists around the world."

However, Mather was by no means uncritical about Hapgood's model, especially with regard to his considerations on the causes of the assumed global movements of the earth's crust as a result of the formation of highly massive glacial ice sheets in the northern hemisphere . Hapgood later paid tribute to this criticism from Mather and other scholars by stating: “Your doubts have been justified by the progress of geological studies over the past decade. Increasing knowledge of the conditions in the earth's crust now suggests that the forces that are responsible for shifting the crust are more likely to lie at some depth within the earth than on its surface. "

Honorary positions and awards

Because of his integrity and scientific authority, Mather has been repeatedly entrusted with leading positions in various national professional associations. In 1938 he served as director of the Association of Summer Session Deans and Directors . In 1951 he became a member of the board of trustees of the Science Service , later the Society for Science & the Public . He also served from 1948 to 1956 as Council President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (from 1957 to 1961). In 1965 he was awarded the Cullum Geographical Medal for his scientific achievements in the field of geology . A year earlier, in 1964, he had received the Edison Award for the best scientific book for young people and the Book Prize of the Geographic Society of Chicago for his book The Earth Beneath Us .

Private life

Mather was married twice, first to Marie Porter Mather (from 1912 until her death in 1971). With her he had three daughters, Florence (1916–2006), Julia (1920–1986) and Jean. In 1977 he married Muriel Williams, with whom he stayed together for the rest of his life. After his retirement from Harvard University in 1954, he had traveled the world numerous times with his first wife and finally settled in Albuquerque , New Mexico , where he resided until his death at the age of 90. After his death in Albuquerque in 1978, he found his final resting place in Granville, Ohio .

Publications

• 1922: Front Ranges of the Andes between Santa Cruz, Bolivia, and Embarcación, Argentina, Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 33, p. 703-764.
• 1928: Old Mother Earth.
• 1928: Science in Search of God.
• 1930: Sons of the Earth.
• 1932: Physiography and Quarternary Geology of the San Juan Mountains, Colorado (with WW Atwood): US Geology Survey, Professional Paper 166.
• 1934: Laboratory Manual of Physical and Historical Geology (with CJ Roy).
• 1937: Adult Education: A Dynamic for Democracy (with Dorothy Hewitt), Appleton-Century, New York.
• 1939: A Source Book in Geology, 1400–1900 (edited with SL Mason), originally published by McGraw Hill, 1939, subsequently published by Harvard University Press, 1967, ISBN 0-674-82277-3 .
• 1944: Enough and to Spare.
• 1949: Crusade for Life, The John Calvin McNair Lectures, University of North Carolina.
• 1950: A Laboratory Manual for Geology: I (with CJ Roy and LR Thiesmeyer), Physical Geology.
• 1952: A Laboratory Manual for Geology, II (with CJ Roy), Historical Geology.
• 1961: The World In Which We Live.
• 1964: The Earth Beneath Us, photos by Josef Muench, drawings by Howard Morris, Random House, ISBN 0-394-42291-0 . Translated into French, German, Italian and Dutch; winner of the 1964 Thomas A. Edison Award and the 1964 Book Award of the Geographic Society of Chicago. A revised edition was published in 1975.
• 1967: A Source Book in Geology, 1900–1950, (editor), Harvard University Press, 1969, ISBN 0-674-82275-7 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Mather Clan family tree. At: matherclan.com. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
2. ↑ Kennard Bork: Kirtley Fletcher Mather's Life in Science and Society. 1982, Ohio Journal of Science (PDF; 2235.82 KB), accessed May 21, 2013.
3. ↑ Ibid.
4. ↑ Kirtley Mather reappointed Director of Summer School. From: The Harvard Crimson. Dec. 2, 1936, accessed May 21, 2013.
5. ↑ Professor Mather criticizes Modern College Instruction, call Adult Education Only Hope for Survival of Democracy. In: The Harvard Crimson. November 23, 1937, accessed May 21, 2013.
6. ↑ Kennard Baker Bork: Cracking Rocks and Defending Democracy, Kirtley Fletcher Mather, scientist, teacher, social activist, 1888–1978 (preface). ( Memento of the original from December 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 12796.37 KB), accessed on May 21, 2013.
7. ↑ Rand and Rose Flem-Ath: Was Albert Einstein silly? - Plate Tectonics Versus Earth Crust Displacement ??? ( Memento of the original of July 13, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. On: FLEM-ATH - expect the unexpected ; and: Charles Hapgood - THE PATH OF THE POLE. At: Yamaguchy.com. Both accessed on May 21, 2013.
8. ↑ Kirtley F. Mather: Foreword to: Charles Hutchins Hapgood: The Path of the Pole. 1968; 1999 as TB edition at Adventures Unlimited Press, ISBN 0-932813-71-2 .
9. ^ Charles Hapgood. THE PATH OF THE POLE. At: Yamaguchy.com. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
10. ^ Mather Heads Summer Schools. In: The Harvard Crimson. October 25, 1938, accessed May 21, 2013.
11. ^ American Geographical Society. Honorary Fellowships. ( Memento of March 26, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 78.36 KB), accessed on May 21, 2013.