Alan Gilbert Smith Explained

Alan Gilbert Smith (24 February 1937, Watford, Hertfordshire, UK – 13 August 2017) was an English geologist, stratigrapher, and pioneer of plate tectonic reconstruction.[1] [2]

Education and career

After education at Watford Grammar School for Boys, A. Gilbert Smith matriculated at St John’s College, Cambridge. There he graduated in 1959 with a B.A. in natural sciences.[3] He was from 1959 to 1963 a graduate student in geology at Princeton University. His Ph.D. thesis Structure and stratigraphy of the northwest Whitefish Range, Lincoln County, Montana[4] was supervised by John C. Maxwell[5] (1914–2006)[6] and Franklyn B. Van Houten[3] (1914–2010).[7] In the Department of Geodesy and Geophysics of the University of Cambridge, Smith was from 1963 to 1964 a research assistant to Edward Bullard, from 1964 to 1969 a demonstrator, and from 1971 to 2004 a lecturer. Smith retired in 2004. His doctoral students include Michael Welland.[8]

Research

Smith's Ph.D. thesis was a major contribution to stratigraphic understanding of the Belt Supergroup.[3] Smith and his collaborators did significant research on plate tectonics,[8] the tectonics of the Balkan peninsula (especially Greece),[9] [10] [11] [12] and the geological timescale.[1] The 1965 paper The fit of the continents around the Atlantic, co-authored by Edward Bullard, J. E. Everett, and A. G. Smith,[13] has historic importance in the establishment of the validity of plate tectonics.[14] [15] [16] According to Eldridge M. Moores, Smith's 1971 paper Alpine Deformation and the Oceanic Areas of the Tethys, Mediterranean, and Atlantic[17] was "a major breakthrough in our views of the relationship between sea floor spreading, the then new-plate tectonics, and orogeny."[5] During the 1980s, Smith collaborated with Frederick J. Vine and Roy A. Livermore,[18] the author of The Tectonic Plates Are Moving! (Oxford University Press, 2018).[19] In 2003 Smith, with co-author Kevin T. Pickering, proposed a unifying explanation for Earth's icehouse periods during the past 620 million years.[20]

Family

A. Gilbert Smith's father was an engineer and inventor, who developed instruments for the Royal Navy during WWII.[1] In 1962, A. Gilbert Smith married Judy Walton, who worked for Princeton University Press when he met her.[15] [5] She died in 2010. Upon his death he was survived by their daughter[15] and one granddaughter.[1]

Awards and honours

Selected publications

Books

References

  1. Web site: Palmer, Douglas. Alan Gilbert Smith 1937-2017 . The Geological Society of London.
  2. 10.1098/rsta.1965.0020 . The fit of the continents around the Atlantic . Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences . 1965 . 258 . 1088 . 41–51 . 1965RSPTA.258...41B . Bullard . Edward . Everett . J. E. . Smith . A. Gilbert .
  3. Web site: Smith, Alan Gilbert. Archive Catalogue, Geological Society of London.
    reference number: LDGSL/1109
    . (papers from 1955 to 2016 of Alan Gilbert Smith)
  4. Web site: Smith, Alan Gilbert. Princeton University Library. Structure and stratigraphy of the northwest Whitefish Range, Lincoln County, Montana. 1963.
    catalog entry for Ph.D. thesis — Princeton University
    .
  5. Web site: Geological Society of America - 2007 International Division Distinguished Career Award - Citation & Response; Citation by Eldridge Moores; Response by Alan Gilbert Smith .
  6. Web site: John C. Maxwell (1914–2006). Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin.
  7. Web site: MacPherson, Kitta. September 14, 2010. Franklyn Van Houten, expert on sedimentary rocks, dies at 96. News, Princeton University.
  8. Web site: Welland, Michael. Genesis of a geophysical icon — and a clarification for the Royal Society. February 18, 2010. Through the Sandglass (blog).
  9. Web site: Dilek, Yildirim. Geological Society of America nomination letter for 2007 Distinguished Career Award to Aland Gilbert Smith. rock.geosociety.org. 17 March 2007.
  10. 10.1144/gsjgs.136.5.0589 . The structural evolution of a Mesozoic continental margin, Othris Mountains, Greece . 1979 . Smith . A. G. . Woodcock . N. H. . Naylor . M. A. . Journal of the Geological Society . 136 . 5 . 589–601 . 1979JGSoc.136..589S .
  11. 10.1144/GSL.SP.1993.076.01.10 . Tectonic significance of the Hellenic-Dinaric ophiolites . 1993 . Smith . Alan G. . Geological Society, London, Special Publications . 76 . 1 . 213–243 . 1993GSLSP..76..213S .
  12. Book: Ophiolite Concept and the Evolution of Geological Thought. Dilek, Yildirim. Newcomb, Sally. 2003. Chapter. The evolution of ideas for the origin and emplacement of the western Hellenic ophiolite by A. G. Smith and A. Rassios. Special Papers 373. Geological Society of America. 337–350.
  13. 10.1038/225139a0 . The Fit of the Southern Continents . 1970 . Smith . A. Gilbert . Hallam . A. . Nature . 225 . 5228 . 139–144 . 1970Natur.225..139S .
  14. Web site: Palmer, Douglas. August 2015. Bullard's fit . The Geological Society of London.
  15. News: Dr Alan Smith, geologist – obituary . The Telegraph . 23 August 2017 .
  16. Everett, Jim. Smith, A.. Genesis of a geophysical icon: the Bullard, Everett and Smith reconstruction of the circus-atlantic continents. Earth Sciences History. 27. 1. 2008. 1–11. 10.17704/eshi.27.1.w0v227931k184h64 . 2008ESHis..27....1E .
  17. 10.1130/0016-7606(1971)82[2039:ADATOA]2.0.CO;2. 0016-7606 . 1971 . 82 . 2039 . Alpine Deformation and the Oceanic Areas of the Tethys, Mediterranean, and Atlantic . Smith . A. Gilbert . Geological Society of America Bulletin . 8 .
  18. 10.1038/322162a0 . Late Palaeozoic to early Mesozoic evolution of Pangaea . 1986 . Livermore . R. A. . Smith . A. G. . Vine . F. J. . Nature . 322 . 6075 . 162–165 . 1986Natur.322..162L .
  19. Book: Livermore, Roy. 978-0-19-871786-7. The Tectonic Plates Are Moving!. Oxford University Press. 2018.
  20. Smith, Alan G.. Pickering, Kevin T.. May 2003. Oceanic gateways as a critical factor to initiate icehouse Earth. Journal of the Geological Society. 160. 337–340. 10.1144/0016-764902-115.
  21. 10.1126/science.149.3681.292.c . The Quest for Numbers: The Phanerozoic Time-Scale: A Symposium Dedicated to Professor Arthur Holmes . W. B. Harland, A. G. Smith, and B. Wilcock, Eds. Geological Society of London, London, 1964. Viii + 458 pp. Illus. $14.50. . 1965 . Faul . Henry . Science . 149 . 3681 . 292–293 . p. 293
  22. Web site: Scotese, Christopher. Book Review: Mesozoic and Cenozoic paleocontinental maps. 1980.

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