Robert Decker

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Robert Wayne Decker (born March 11, 1927 in Williamsport (Pennsylvania) , † June 11, 2005 in Mariposa , California ) was an American volcanologist and geophysicist.

Life

Decker studied geology and geophysics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (bachelor's degree in 1949, master's degree in 1951) and the Colorado School of Mines , where he received his doctorate in geology in 1953. From 1949 to 1950 he worked as a geologist for Bethlehem Steel and from 1952 to 1954 for the New World Exploration Company. In 1954 he became an Assistant Professor of Geology at the University of Illinois , but in the same year he went to Dartmouth College as an Assistant Professor , where he headed the Faculty of Geology from 1963 to 1965 and was Professor of Geophysics from 1967. He was associated with the University of Hawaii from 1964 and with the US Geological Survey (USGS) from 1957.

1979 to 1984 he was director of the Hawaiian Vulcano Observatory (HVO) at Kilauea on behalf of the US Geological Survey. During this time he was also visiting professor at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. After the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980 , he was temporarily chief geologist of the USGS project formed for the investigation. In 1989 he was involved in the development of a training program for volcanologists from all over the world (especially from third world countries) at the University of Hawaii (a cooperation between the Universities of Hawaii in Hilo and Manoa and the HVO), the CSAV (Center for the Study of Active Volcanoes).

In addition to Hawaii, he has worked as a volcanologist worldwide (including Alaska, Cascade Mountains, Central America, Iceland, Indonesia). In 1959/60 he was an assistant professor at the Institute for Technology in Bandung and he visited Iceland regularly from 1966 to 1977.

He wrote a weekly column on Hawaiian volcano activity in the Hawaii-Tribune Herald, which was continued by others (Vulcano Watch).

From 1975 to 1979 he was President of the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior (IAVCEI).

He published a lot with his wife, Barbara Decker, a journalist (Decker has been married since 1950 and has four children). She heads the travel guide publishing company Double Decker Press, founded in 1984.

Fonts

  • with Barbara Decker Mountains of Fire. The Nature of Volcanoes , Cambridge University Press 1991
  • with Barbara Decker Volcanoes , Freeman, San Francisco, 4th edition 2005
  • with Barbara Decker Volcanoes and the Earth's Interior , Freeman, San Francisco 1982 (anthology of Scientific American articles, including by Robert and Barbara Decker The eruptions of Mount St. Helens , Scientific American March 1981, and by Decker, Dallas L. Peck , Thomas L. Wright The Lava lakes of Kilauea , Scientific American October 1979)
  • with Barbara Decker Vulkane: Abbild der Erddynamik , Spektrum Akademischer Verlag 1998
  • with Barbara Decker Die Urgewalt der Vulkane From Pompeii to Pinatubo , Seehamer Verlag 1997
  • with Barbara Decker Road Guide to Death Valley National Park , Double Decker Press 2004
  • with Barbara Decker Road Guide to Crater Lake National Park , Double Decker Press 2004
  • with Barbara Decker Road Guide to Haleakala and the Hana Highway , Double Decker Press 1999
  • with Barbara Decker Volcanoes in America's National Parks , Odyssey Guides 2001
  • with Barbara Decker Road Guide to Joshua Tree National Park , Double Decker Press 1999
  • with Barbara Decker Road Guide To Lassen Volcanic National Park , Double Decker Press 1997

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Life and career data according to American Men and Women of Science , Thomson Gale 2004
personal data
SURNAME Decker, Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Decker, Robert Wayne (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American volcanologist and geophysicist
DATE OF BIRTH March 11, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Williamsport, Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH June 11, 2005
Place of death Mariposa , California