Samuel Warren Carey

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Samuel Warren Carey (1953)

Samuel Warren Carey AO (born November 1, 1911 in Campbelltown , † March 20, 2002 in Hobart ) was an Australian geologist and an early proponent of the theory of continental drift . His attempts at explanation led him to develop a theory of the expanding earth .

Second World War

Carey in New Guinea, 1942

Carey served in the Second World War as a lieutenant in the special unit Z force , which operated behind the Japanese lines, and developed a plan to mine ships in enemy ports by small groups (Operation "Scorpion"). He was allowed by his superior to test the plan with his unit during a mock attack on the port in Townsville used by American units and to attach harmless test mines to American ships. Upon discovering the mines, Carey was arrested despite his assurances that the mines were not dangerous. However, at the instigation of his superior, he was soon dismissed, but only on condition that he left the special unit.

Carey as a geologist

After the war, Carey was a highly respected geologist who made important contributions in the field of tectonics that had considerable influence in the implementation of the idea of mobilism (engineers used maps and data obtained from his field studies in New Guinea ). He defended the theory of continental drift by Alfred Wegener and performed together with Harry Hammond Hess , Robert S. Dietz and Bruce C. Heezen pioneering work in developing various aspects of plate tectonics . His model, which he developed in the late 1940s and early 1950s, had a lot in common with the current model, such as the formation of new crusts in deep oceanic areas in the sense of a kind of ocean floor spreading . For the time being, he also advocated the idea that a kind of subduction compensates for the ocean floor spread and thus the earth's radius remains constant. In 1953, however, his work on this could not be published because theories on continental drift were generally not taken seriously.

However, in 1958 Carey published an influential anthology of theories by important researchers who attribute continental drift to tectonic processes. He himself rejected the process of subduction here, however, and explained that the ocean floor spreading implied the expansion theory of the earth (a thought that was also briefly advocated by Heezen). Here, however, the scientists followed the theories of Hess and Dietz, who introduced ocean floor spreading and subduction as mature scientific concepts at the beginning of the 1960s , and the idea of ​​earth expansion is therefore considered obsolete. In 1946 he became professor of geology at the University of Tasmania . He resigned from this position 30 years later. He and a small group of researchers continued to study expansion theory.

Publications

Books
  • The Expanding Earth . 448 pages, Elsevier, Amsterdam 1976.
  • Theories of the Earth and Universe . 206 pages, Stanford University Press 1988.
  • Earth Universe Cosmos . University of Tasmania 1996.
Essays
  • 1958: The tectonic approach to continental drift . In: SW Carey (ed.): Continental Drift - A Symposium. University of Tasmania, Hobart, pp. 177–363 (“expanding Earth” on pp. 311–349)
  • 1961. Palaeomagnetic evidence relevant to a change in the Earth's radius . Nature 190, pp. 36f.
  • 1963: The asymmetry of the Earth . Australian Journal of Science 25, pp. 369-383 and 479-488.
  • 1970: Australia, New Guinea, and Melanasia in the current revolution in concepts of the evolution of the Earth . Search 1 (5), pp. 178-189.
  • 1975: The Expanding Earth - an Assay Review . Earth Science Reviews, 11, pp. 105-143.
  • 1986: La Terra in expansion . Laterza, Bari.

Honors

  • 1977: Officer of the Order of Australia in recognition of his contribution to geology education.
  • 1979: Namesake for the Carey Range in Palmerland on the Antarctic Peninsula.
  • 2016: Namesake for the Carey Nunatak in Princess Elisabeth Land, East Antarctica

literature

  • Samuel Warren Carey - Commemorative memoir . In: Scalera, G. and Jacob, K.-H. (Ed.): Why expanding Earth? - A book in honor of OC Hilgenberg . Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Rome May 2003, p. 85-95 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ It's an Honor. Australia Government, accessed July 22, 2010 .
personal data
SURNAME Carey, Samuel Warren
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Carey, Sam
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian geologist
DATE OF BIRTH November 1, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Campbelltown , Australia
DATE OF DEATH March 20, 2002
Place of death Hobart , Australia