Walter C. Pitman

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Walter Clarkson Pitman III (born October 21, 1931 in Newark , New Jersey , † October 1, 2019 in Riverdale , New York ) was an American geophysicist .

Pitman studied electrical engineering at Lehigh University (bachelor's degree in 1956). He then worked for the Hazeltine Corporation and from 1960 as a technician in oceanographic research on ships for the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University . Among other things, he was responsible for the magnetometers on expeditions in the Atlantic and Pacific. At the same time he began studying geophysics, completing his doctorate in 1967 at Columbia University. In his doctoral thesis under James Heirtzler , he confirmed the plate tectonic hypothesis of Vine , Matthews and Morley of the formation of the ocean floors by demonstrating symmetrical magnetic stripe patterns on both sides of the mid-ocean ridges. He became a professor at Columbia University, where he was last professor emeritus.

Further paleomagnetic measurements on ocean floors were used by Manik Talwani and Pitman in 1971/72 to reconstruct the history of the North Atlantic. In 1974 he published a world atlas of the paleomagnetic patterns on the ocean floors with Larson and Herron. He then turned to the effects of plate tectonics on sea level fluctuations.

The Pitman Fracture Zone in the Southern Ocean has been named after him since 1993 . In 1996 he received the Maurice Ewing Medal of the American Geophysical Union , in 1998 the Alexander Agassiz Medal and in 2000 the Vetlesen Prize . Also in 2000 he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences .

He is also known for his research into the catastrophic flooding of the Black Sea around 5600 BC. Chr.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kevin Krajick: Walter Pitman: Discovered a Key to Plate Tectonics. Earth Institute, Columbia University, October 2, 2019, accessed February 10, 2020 .
  2. ^ Vine, Matthews Magnetic anomalies over ocean ridges , Nature, Volume 199, Sep. 7, 1963, p. 947
  3. ↑ Unpublished as a letter to Nature and J. Geophys. Res. From 1963 were rejected
  4. ↑ Heirtzler, Pitman Magnetic anomalies over the pacific antarctic ridge , Science, Volume 154, 1966, p. 1154. The so-called Eltanin-19 Magnetic Anomaly Profile.
  5. ^ GO Dickson, Pitman, Heirtzler Magnetic Anomalies in the South Atlantic and Ocean Floor Spreading , J. Geophys Research, Volume 73, 1968, pp. 2087-2100, Pitman, Herron, Heirtzler Magnetic Anomalies in the Pacific and sea floor spreading , Journal of Geophysical Research, Volume 75, 1968, pp. 2069-2086. Abstract in Heirtzler, Pitman, Dickson, Herron, Le Pichon Marine magnetic anomalies, geomagnetic field reversals and motion of the ocean floor and continents , J. Geophys. Res., Volume 73, 1968, pp. 2119-2136, article by Heirtzler in Science Citation Classics on this, pdf
  6. ↑ Talwani, Pitman, Heirtzler Age of the North Atlantic Ocean from magnetic anomalies , Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Volume 11, 1971, pp. 195-200. Pitman, Talwani Sea-floor spreading in the North Atlantic , Geol. Soc. At the. Bull., Vol. 83, 1972, pp. 619-646
  7. ^ Larson, Herron, Pitman The age of ocean basins , Geological Society of America 1974
  8. ↑ Pitman Relation between Eustacy and stratigraphic sequences of passive margins , Geolog. Soc. America Bulletin, Vol. 89, 1978, pp. 1389-1403
  9. ^ Ewing Medal for Pitman
  10. ^ Pitman, William Ryan Noah's Flood: The New Scientific Discoveries About The Event That Changed History , Simon & Schuster 1997. German translation: Sintflut. A riddle is deciphered , Lübbe 1999
  11. ↑ Ryan, Pitman An abrupt drowning of the Black Sea shelf , Marine Geology, Volume 138, 1997, pp. 119-126
  12. ↑ Article in PBS on their Black Sea hypothesis

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Pitman, Walter C.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pitman III, Walter Clarkson
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American geophysicist
DATE OF BIRTH October 21, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH Newark , New Jersey
DATE OF DEATH 1st October 2019
Place of death Riverdale , New York