Maurice Ewing
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William Maurice "Doc" Ewing (May 12 1906 – May 4 1974) was an American geophysicist and oceanographer.
He has been described as a pioneering geophysicist who worked on the research of seismic reflection and refraction in ocean basins, ocean bottom photography, submarine sound transmission, deep sea coring of the ocean bottom, theory and observation of earthquake surface waves, fluidity of the earth's core, generation and propagation of microseisms, submarine explosion seismology, marine gravity surveys, marine topography and sedimentation, natural radio-activity of ocean waters and sediments, study of abyssal plains and mid-ocean canyons.
He was born in Lockney, Texas, where he was the eldest child of a large farm family. He won a scholarship to attend Rice University, earning a B.A. with honors in 1926. He completing his graduate studies at the same institution, earning a M.A. in 1927 and being awarded his Ph.D. in 1931. In 1928 he was married to Avarilla Hildenbrand, and the couple had a son.
He was a professor for most of his career at many Ivy League schools across the USA, a mentor to many of his students, and an author of hundreds of scientific papers. He taught physics at the University of Pittsburgh from 1929 until 1930, then geophysics at Lehigh University until 1944. As he was divorced by this point, he became married to Margaret Sloan Kidder, and the couple had four children.
He moved to Columbia University, becoming a professor of geology in 1947. In 1959 he was named the Higgins Professor of Geology at Columbia. Dr. Ewing (often simply called 'Doc' by those who worked with him) was the founder (established in 1949) and first director of Lamont Geological Observatory (now known as Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) in Palisades, New York) where he worked with J. Lamar Worzel (gravity specialist), Dr. Frank Press (seismologist), Jack Nafe, and Jack Oliver. The current LDEO research vessel is named in his honor.
He divorced a second time, and married Harriet Greene Bassett in 1965. In 1972 he joined the University of Texas Medical Branch, and was named the head of the Division of Earth and Planetary Sciences of the Marine Biomedical Institute.
During his career he published over 340 scientific papers. He served as president of the American Geophysical Union and the Seismological Society of America. He led over 50 oceanic expeditions. He made many contributions to oceanography, including the discovery of the SOFAR Channel, and did much work fundamental on plate tectonics. He was the chief scientist on board the Glomar Challenger.
Awards and honors
- Penrose Medal, 1974 (posthumously)
- Walter H. Bucher Medal, 1974
- William Bowie Medal, 1957
- Arthur L. Day Medal, 1949
- John J. Carty Medal, 1963
- Distinguished Public Service Award, 1955
- Sidney Powers Memorial Medal, 1968
- Robert Earl McConnell Award, 1973
- National Medal of Science, 1973
- Vega Medal
- Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1964
- Elected to the National Academy of Sciences
- Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- Elected to the American Philosophical Society
- Foreign Member of the Geological Society of London, 1964
- Guggenheim Fellow, 1938, 1953, 1955
- Awarded eleven honorary degrees.
- Geophysics Laboratory at the University of Texas Medical Branch Marine Science Institute was renamed Maurice Ewing Hall.
- The Maurice Ewing Medal was named after him.
- The lunar wrinkle-ridge Dorsa Ewing was named after him.
