W. Jason Morgan
W. Jason Morgan | |
---|---|
Georgia Institute of Technology | |
Awards |
|
Scientific career | |
Fields | Geophysicist |
Institutions | Princeton University |
Doctoral advisor | Robert H. Dicke |
William Jason Morgan (October 10, 1935 – July 31, 2023) was an American
Early life and education
Morgan was born on October 10, 1935, in Savannah, Georgia. His father William owned a hardware and dry goods store and his mother Maxie Ponita (Donehoo) Morgan was a French teacher and volunteered with the Girl Scouts of America.[3]
He attended
Career
His first major contribution, made in the late 1960s, was to relate the magnetic anomalies of alternating polarity, which occur on the ocean bottom at both sides of a mid-ocean ridge, to seafloor spreading and plate tectonics.
From 1971 on he worked on the further development of the
"The theory of plate tectonics he published in 1968 is one of the major milestones of U.S. science in the 20th century," F. A. Dahlen, chair of the Princeton Department of Geosciences, wrote in 2003.[4]
"Essentially all of the research in solid-earth geophysical sciences in the past 30 to 35 years has been firmly grounded upon Jason Morgan's plate tectonic theory," Dahlen said. "The scientific careers of a generation of geologists and geophysicists have been founded upon his landmark 1968 paper."[5]
Awards and honors
Morgan received many honors and awards for his work, among them the
Personal life
In 1959, Morgan married Cary Goldschmidt. Together they had two children. She died in 1991.[3]
He died in Natick, Massachusetts on July 31, 2023, at the age of 87.[8]
Selected publications
- Morgan, W. J. (1991) [1968]. "Rises, Trenches, Great Faults, and Crustal Blocks" (PDF). Tectonophysics. 187 (1–3): 6–22.
- Morgan, W. J. (March 5, 1971). "Convection plumes in the lower mantle". Nature. 230 (5288): 42–43. S2CID 4145715.
- Morgan, W. J. (February 1972). "Plate motions and deep mantle convection" (PDF). The American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin. 56 (2): 203–213. .
- Morgan, W. J. (1972). "Plate motions and deep mantle convection". In Shagam, R; Hargraves, RB; Morgan, WJ; et al. (eds.). Studies in earth and space sciences: A memoir in honor of Harry Hammond Hess. Geological Society of America Memoirs. Vol. 132. pp. 7–22. ISBN 0-8137-1132-0.
- Morgan, W. J. (1981). "Hotspot tracks and the opening of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans". In Cesare Emiliani (ed.). The Oceanic Lithosphere. New York: Wiley. pp. 443–489. ISBN 0-674-01736-6.
References
- ^ Laureates of the Japan Prize. japanprize.jp.
- ^ Bill Bonini; Laurie Wanat, eds. (Fall 2003). "Jason Morgan Retires" (PDF). The Smilodon: The Princeton Geosciences Newsletter. 44 (2). Passages about W. Jason Morgan from:
- McPhee, John (1998). Annals of the Former World. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux.
- ^ a b c Risen, Clay (August 11, 2023). "W. Jason Morgan, Who Developed Theory of Plate Tectonics, Dies at 87". The New York Times.
- ^ Princeton geophysicist to receive National Medal of Science. Princeton University press release (October 22, 2003)
- ^ "Princeton geophysicist to receive National Medal of Science".
- ^ "Wollaston Medal". Award Winners since 1831. Geological Society of London. Archived from the original on March 21, 2009. Retrieved February 25, 2009.
- ^ National Science Foundation, "W. Jason Morgan", The President's National Medal of Science: Recipient Details.
- ^ "W. Jason Morgan". National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved August 12, 2023.