Harry Hess Centennial

18 Pages·2006·4.69 MB·English

Harry Hess Centennial
WebEdition Supplement, July, 2006
From the Spring 2006 issue of The Smilodon
Harry Hess in the early 1960’s.
Introduction to this WebEdition Supplement to the Spring 2006 issue of The Smilodon
The authors of the original letters were asked to provide about 250-300 words. However, very few could keep to that amount. So
it was necessary with limited publication space to edit the letters to fit the space available. A word count of the published, but edited,
letters that appeared in The Smilodon is 6,092, whereas the word count of the complete letters (not including the late arrivals) amounts
to 13,427. So only about 45% made the printed edition. Since many held to the smaller word limit, the big cuts were made in only
a few very long letters. However, it was felt that so many interesting comments were made that the entire original texts as submitted
should be made available. So here they are!
We have made few changes, principally putting in the class numeral, and other information for identification purposes. In addition
five letters arrived too late to meet the deadline. Their comments are included at the end. In addition, more photos were submitted than
we could use, so we have included here all of those submitted, including a repeat of the original ones in the Spring 2006 Smilodon.
W. E. Bonini, Editor
Laurie Wanat, Production Editor
The Smilodon, July 1, 2006
The Smilodon, a Web Supplement 1 July 1, 2006
Remembering Harry Hess
One hundred years ago, on May 27, 1906, Harry Hammond Hess *32, faculty 1934-69, was
born in New York City. Although his life was shortened by a heart attack at the age of 63 in 1969,
he had a profound influence on geologic thought in the 20th Century. Arthur F. Buddington *16,
faculty1917-59, wrote an obituary in which he recounted the five lives of Hess’ remarkable life, “(1)
as a family man, (2) a member of the family of Princeton University, (3) a mineralogist, geologist,
geological geophysicist and oceanographer, (4) an officer in the U. S. Naval Reserve and a statesman-
scientist, and (5) the organizer, fund-raiser, and administrator of the Princeton Caribbean Geological
Research Project.”
Hess’ intellectual accomplishments are well recorded in the literature, so here we look at Hess as
a person and his influence on a generation of students - especially, on a group of students graduat-
ing Princeton in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Graduate students of that era gathered in Calgary, Alberta,
last September to celebrate the beauty and geology of the Canadian Rockies at the Third Princ-
eton GeoGrads Reunion. One evening at the Buffalo Mountain Lodge in Banff was set aside to
Hess the typist, 1932, at Princeton. remember Harry Hess. Here are some of the thoughts and memories of him.
Acknowledgements: Roger Macqueen *65 was most helpful in putting everything together, including supplying some photos; Rosemary
Barker recorded and transcribed some presentations; Ted Konigsmark *58, Peter Mattson *57, and Dave MacKenzie *54 sent photographs;
and Don Wise *57 took over 200 photos during the Reunion, many of which are in the printed edition. We owe special thanks to Harry’s
son, George B. Hess, Professor of Physics, University of Virginia, for family photos that appear in this issue. For space reasons, many essays were
shortened, but the complete series of contributions will be appear on the Departmental website in early July. http://geoweb.princeton.edu/. Please
note that the contents of this document may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without permission. For more information on reprinting,
please contact us at [email protected].
Harry Hess Talk By Dick Holland ’47, Faculty 1950-1972 myself to join the BC Geological Survey (then the BC Dept. of
In the spring of 1950 I was asked to come to Princeton to be Mines, Mineralogical Branch), Harry said that I should try to start
interviewed for a job in the Geology Department. I had graduated mapping the Queen Charlotte Islands. His thought was that its
from Princeton in Chemistry, and was then in my third year as a west coast dropped sharply from alpine elevations to deep oceanic
graduate student at Columbia. Harry Hess, the incoming Chair- depths and that there must be a reason. At the time the Queen
man in Geology, asked me what 1 planned to do in my research. Charlotte Fault was not known and the islands were virtually terra
I outlined some of my ideas. Harry was pleased, and it became nova. As chance had it, six years later the BC Government was
obvious that he was going to offer me a job. I demurred somewhat: trying to encourage iron mining in the Province but at the same
“You know, I’m not quite 23 yet, and I don’t think I’m ready to time was cutting funds for geological surveys. I, with the help of
teach anybody anything, especially not at Princeton”. Harry’s my boss Stuart Holland (Princeton *33), proposed that we start
response was perfect: “You know, Dick; if we didn’t think that a mapping project to outline favourable areas for magnetite skarn
your lectures ten years from now would be better than the ones deposit that industry could then fly. The government could hardly
you are apt to give in the fall, I wouldn’t offer you the job.” Of refuse.
course, my reaction was: “My God, they’re going to keep me for Consequently, I did map the whole of the Charlottes. The very
ten years!” As it turned out, I stayed for twenty-two. January 5, large QC earthquake on the fault was the year before I started
2006 <[email protected]> and I showed the small number of old soundings along the west
coast were contoured wrongly and, when corrected, displayed a
Atholl Sutherland Brown *54 on Harry Hess’ thinking
trench tracing the fault. Harry always thought globally and guided
16 Jan 2006. A Note on Harry Hess and his thoughts leading
students to critical projects. Incidentally, we also found magnetite
toward conceptualizing the Mohole, deep drilling and the theory
deposits.” <[email protected]>
of Plate Tectonics. The facts of the following note may be well left
to others in more elaborate form. Dave MacKenzie *54
In 1951 Harry gave a course supposedly for senior undergradu- In the early 1950s, the attention of many petrologists was on the
ates that he called Advanced General Geology. It was attended by granitization controversy. But Hess saw that the keys to understand-
all the resident graduate students because not only was he thinking ing earth’s features lay at the other end of the petrologic spectrum,
out loud but he welcomed discussion. With guys like Gene Shoe- the ultramafic rocks, and in island arcs and ocean basins. Yet his
maker present there was no shortage of this. During these sessions breakthrough hypothesis of sea-floor spreading in the early 1960s
he started describing the dearth of sediments and sedimentary was preceded by concepts that later turned out to be discredited
rocks in the deep ocean basins and gave figures for the amount that byways. One invoked a primary peridotite magma as the source of
was missing. He felt there had to be a method of recycling them. alpine-type peridotites. Even in the face of contrary experimental
I believe this soon led him towards concepts of possible solutions data, he was reluctant to abandon the idea. Another concept he
and methods of testing. championed was the tectogene, a down-buckling of the earth’s crust
17 Jan 2006. A further brief note on Harry Hess and his global to explain the strong negative gravity anomalies associated with
thinking that might be of interest. “In 1952, when I committed many island arcs. Here is Jacques Béland’s *53 take on the tecto-
The Smilodon, a Web Supplement 2 July 1, 2006
Memories of Harry Hess by Reg Shagam *56, December 20,
2005
To understand this let me remind you of a problem in the Coast
Ranges of Venezuela which puzzled about 6 graduate members
of Harry’s Caribbean crew. An E-W belt of quartzo-feldspathic
metamorphics (Caracas Group) along the coast is in fault contact
with an E-W belt of basic volcanics (Villa de Cura Group) to
the south. The paucity of fossils and lack of radiometric age data
stymied all efforts to establish the age relationships of the two
belts. If the volcanic belt was the younger how come one never
found the volcanics intrusive into the quartzo-feldspathic belt? If
the reverse how come one never found pebbles of the volcanics in
the Caracas Group, moreover what happened to the thick pile of
sediment which presumably once overlay the volcanics in the latter
situation? Harry solved the problem by proposing obduction of
marine volcanics onto the continental margin. Keep in mind this
was mid- to late-fifties...BPT (Before Plate Tectonics !). Harry’s
Tectogene, or tecto-Jean drawing by Jacques Béland *53. idea when told now draws yawns; at the time it was mind-boggling
science.
gene or tecto-Jean. I am sending the figure and Jacques’ approval
Years later I asked him: “Harry, what gave you the idea for the
by mail. (see figure). So even with his extraordinary intuition, the
obduction of the Villa de Cura?” “You did” I looked at him open-
path to sea-floor spreading and plate tectonics led to some dead-
mouthed; “Huh?” “Yes. You mapped that fossiliferous limestone
ends. Note: Jacques has given me written approval to include his
near the top of the sediments and showed its constant spatial re-
figure. <[email protected]>
lationship to the volcanics. Then Ron Oxburgh *60 and Alfredo
Menedez *62 showed how the relationship persisted around the
Memories of Harry By Les Coleman *55, 3 January 2006
sharp ‘elbow’ of that contact as it was traced to the west. Clearly
I first met Harry nearly a month after arriving in Princeton in
the steep fault separating the two belts must once have been sub-
August, 1952. I was in the office collecting my mail when Miss
horizontal and then subsequently rotated. There was no possible
Law said, “Coleman, you should meet Dr. Hess”. I turned around
continental source for the volcanics; they must have slid in from
expecting to see the distinguished looking gentleman I had visual-
the Caribbean!”
ized when I applied to Princeton - an image resulting from reading
Once explained it was pretty obvious (and especially to me).
several of his well-ordered and elegantly reasoned papers and from
The message was: “Trust your eyes and link them to your mind”!
his Germanic surname. Instead I saw an almost scruffy, far from
Harry had done such a thing many times before. Another instance
clean-shaven character in khaki slacks and an open-necked shirt
of same was when he suggested that the beveled edges of guyots
with a cigarette hanging out of the corner of his mouth
represented drowned wave-cut benches. How many would have
After the academic formality then prevailing at Canadian uni-
thought of the idea that a short gently sloping surface under 1-2
versities, the easy going camaraderie between faculty and graduate
km of water in the middle of the Pacific Ocean was a wave-cut
students at Princeton was a revelation. For me, it was epitomized
terrace?!
by my associations with Harry. Among my most vivid memories of
To a degree Harry’s mind operated on the Holmesian principle:
those years, is working evenings in his lab alongside him and Bob
“Eliminate the impossible; what remains, however, implausible
Smith*54, then his other research assistant. All of us (then) smoked
and Bob and I learned that if you were sitting next to Harry at the
microscope bench, you didn’t put your cigarette down on the edge
of the bench next to him or soon he would unwittingly be smoking
it. We also learned that if we were out of cigarettes, we could help
ourselves to the Chesterfields, of which there was always a carton,
in one of the left hand drawers of his desk in the office next door.
Conversations those evenings covered a wide range of topics which,
among others, included the persuasive evidence being presented for
continental drift and that, on the basis of what we then believed
about the physical properties of the crust and mantle, it wasn’t
possible. This, of course, was only a year or so before Harry came
up with the solution to the problem, i.e. seafloor spreading.
While sartorial and housekeeping neatness might not have been
among his obvious traits, Harry’s mind was brilliant and orderly;
he was endowed with a wonderful sense of humor; and was one
of the most considerate and generous persons that I have been Maracay, Venezuela, 1951. Left to right: Marge and Jim MacLachlan *52; John
privileged to know. <[email protected]> Maxwell, faculty; Raymond Smith *51; Harry Hess, faculty; in front of the
Yellow Monster. Photo by Dave MacKenzie *54.
The Smilodon, a Web Supplement 3 July 1, 2006
Hess on a field trip at the 2nd Carib- Even the microprobe can’t beat that.
bean Geological Congress, Rosario, But, for me, there’s much more to Harry Hess. He seemed
Puerto Rico, January 1959. Photo by
to respect my observational abilities and always gave me serious
Peter Mattson *57
responses to question I posed from problems that arose in my re-
must be the truth”. It sounds search , even very esoteric problems. And he listened and responded
simple but very few have been carefully to hypotheses. He didn’t challenge. He was collegial to us
able to match Harry at that all from the day we entered grad school. Five minutes with him at
game. Me either. a GSA or AGU meeting recharged my intellectual batteries more
<[email protected]> than anything or anybody else ever did. I can’t say that he and I
were close buddies, but close enough. I miss him to this day.
Stories about Harry Hess
I’ll close with something more general, but still revealing. Hess
from Bill Poole*56, January
told me that, as Captain of the USS Cape Johnson, he never
25, 2006
returned stateside with any alcoholic beverages aboard. Any such
Your call for stories about
stores left were always donated at his last port of call, and always
Harry Hess brought out of
to enlisted personnel.
my fading and not altogether
trustworthy memory, this one Harry Hess by Peter Mattson *57, December 2005
about Harry’s smoking. Harry Leila and Peter Mattson *57 spent about ten months in south-
Hess (‘Triple H’ or ‘H cubed’ western Puerto Rico in 1954-56, Peter doing thesis research and
as some of us called him, to Leila coping with everything else. Harry visited from time to time,
ourselves) in the early 1950s exercising loose direction and giving encouragement. I mostly re-
was a smoker, a great smoker, a member his dropping cigarette ashes everywhere, but advising me
nearly constant smoker it seems. to keep my geologic map up-to-the-minute, outlining and coloring
I can still picture those nicotine-painted finger tips. On one oc- to make it understandable to him and others. Leila remembers
casion, he was invited to lecture to geology staff and students at burning the toast at an early breakfast (I remember this as our
Columbia University and several Princeton grads accompanied honeymoon; Leila humpfs), and Harry calmly scraping off the
him. Schermerhorn Hall it seemed to me was a modern building burned parts and eating the rest. As a holdover from less healthy
characterized by cleanliness and clanging doors, quite different tropical locales, Harry ate no salads and consumed beer and rum,
from the venerable, well-worn Guyot Hall. Harry stepped up to but little water. We rinsed all our fresh vegetables in weak Clorox
the front of the room full of people, pulled out a cigarette despite solutions.
many signs forbidding smoking, and lit it with a match while his He did, however, get me successfully through the thesis and de-
eyes searched the room for an ashtray. Not finding one, he casually fense, and even did most of the preparation of the thesis for GSA
tossed the match to the floor in front of the audience and proceeded publication while I was in the Army. As I remember, it included the
to lecture. It was hard for us from Princeton to suppress a giggle last large colored geologic map published in the GSA Bulletin, part
while seeing the look of astonishment on some of the faces of the of a 1960 special issue devoted to Hess student Caribbean theses.
Columbians. Harry was a smoker! <[email protected]> Largely due to Harry’s inspiration, the map showed that south-
western Puerto Rico had a basement of serpentinized peridotite,
Contribution from Manny Bass, January 18, 2006
possibly still part of the mantle or at least a very thick thrust slice
Of all the class notes I ever took in any class, and school, I’ve
coming from the mantle. Later work by fellow Hess student Emile
referred to those from Hess’ Advanced Mineralogy, Saturday morn-
ing, Fall, 1951, more than any others. His topics were thematic and
the theses sounded repeatedly throughout my geologic experiences.
But I learned almost as much just watching him work. Late one
morning after Advanced Mineralogy, Shagam *56 and I talked to
Hess about something or other standing around his x-ray machine.
As we talked he powdered a sample in an agate mortar, smeared
an aliquot on a slide with water or alcohol, let it dry, mounted
the side on the holder, set the diffractometer, at 25o , I think,
started the machine, and, about 0 seconds later, the stylus went
off-scale, to return about 215 seconds later to baseline. Hess said,
“Andalusite.” Elapsed time, about 12 minutes. I recovered from a
gaping jaw enough to ask what he’ just done. A few years later the
x-ray diffractometer was my standard tool for unknown minerals,
and it plus the petrographic microscope for fine-grained rocks.
A 40o whole-rock diffraction pattern, about 40 minutes on the
machine, of an aphanititic volcanic rock or mudstone completes Gathering at the end Caribbean Geological Congress, Rosario, Puerto Rico, Janu-
a “90%” description, including structural state of most feldspars, ary 1959. Left to right: Emile Pessagno *60 and spouse (name thought to be
of an oceanic basalt, or a rhyolite or ignimbrite from the basement Betty), Annette Hess, two ;unknowns, and Harry Hess, standing. Photo by Peter
of the Central US about as fast as any other set of tools I know of. Mattson *57
The Smilodon, a Web Supplement 4 July 1, 2006
building. Dr. Hess (it was not until later that he would become
“Harry”) shortly wandered into the room and was soon involved
in the discussion. To bolster his argument, one of the older gradu-
ate students triumphantly referred to something that Harry had
published in a paper some years before. I shall never forget Harry’s
reaction. Harry cocked his head, gave his little smile and chuckle,
and with a twinkle in his eye said “Oh – I don’t believe that any
more! Here’s what I think now.” And with that, Harry went on
to enthusiastically describe his new idea. At that moment I knew
I really liked Harry.
Although the discussion was about mountain building, Harry
taught several other valuable lessons. The first, and most obvious
lesson, was to always look at a problem with the newest and best
information available. Quickly discard old ideas that no longer fit
– even if your name is on them. The second lesson is to always seek
the scientific truth. The truth may be difficult to see, and there
may be digressions and U-turns in getting there, but the important
1959, field trip, 2nd Caribbean Geological Conference, Rosario, Puerto Rico. Left objective is to get to the truth. The third lesson is that, with a smile
to right: Verners Zans, Jamaican Geological Survey; Harry Hess; Bill Benson, NSF. and chuckle, you can enjoy, and help others enjoy, the trip toward
Photo by W. E. Monroe, USGS, courtesy of Peter Mattson *57 scientific truth.
During my subsequent career in oil exploration, there were
Pessagno *60 and myself showed Jurassic and early Cretaceous
many times when new data and new decisions came rapidly. At
radiolarian cherts resting on the peridotite, thus limiting the age
those times, I often recalled the lessons learned that afternoon and
of the mantle in the northeastern Caribbean.
tried to use them as a guide toward making the right decision. It
<[email protected]>
was comforting to know that Harry was there, at least in spirit.
<[email protected]>
Professor Harry Hess by Finley Campbell, January 20, 2006
His broad philosophic overview of the place of Earth Sciences
Comments by Ray Price *58, January 3, 2006
in the intellectual evolution of mankind was apparent in all of his
I didn’t have the privilege of being a research student work-
remarks. The tools to study the earth ranged from all of the basic
ing under Harry’s supervision. However, I did take some of his
sciences of mathematics, physics, chemistry, botany and biology
graduate courses, and was deeply influenced by the example that
employed within the social and humanistic constraints of accepted
he set. I will describe a few my memories about his style and his
logic.
influence.
I can recall when our student group plotted to seek intellectual
The first day in his graduate course in mineralogy was truly
clarification of various aspects of continental drift and plate tec-
memorable. We were a diverse group of new grad students with
tonics by seeking Harry’s advanced views on these topics in the
dissimilar backgrounds in the subject. Some of us had completed
mineralogy laboratory. There we could get him to draw relation-
undergraduate courses in optical mineralogy, but at least one had
ships on the blackboard and elaborate on his theories instead of
never looked down a microscope. Harry wasted no time. After an
having us measure 2V’s on pyroxenes from the Stillwater Complex.
hour or two of lecturing he assigned us the task of determining feld-
The mineralogy eventually was completed but the pre-universal
spar compositions using a universal stage and the mineral samples
stage discussions became a very important part of the laboratory
sessions.
At the personal level I will never forget the day he came up to
me in a corridor of Guyot with a letter in his hand and said it was
from a department head in a university asking for suggestions of a
candidate to teach mineralogy and crystallography and suggested
that I should apply. I did not think of myself as a mineralogist or
crystallographer or of having a university career. Harry thought
otherwise, and here I am almost 50 years later.
<[email protected]>
Comments on Harry Hess By Ted Konigsmark *58, October
19, 2005
Fifty years ago, as a new graduate student in the Geology Depart-
ment at Princeton, I found myself in an unused classroom near
the mineralogy laboratory participating in an impromptu discus-
sion with several other graduate students - the sort of discussion
Hess in the San Juan de los Morros area, Venezuela, 1957. Photo by Ted Ko-
that just “happens.” The topic of our discussion was mountain
nigsmark *58.
The Smilodon, a Web Supplement 5 July 1, 2006
Hess in Washington, ~1967. was a Canadian and there was Harry Hess, and the question was,
who was going to make it? Miss Law was sitting there taking notes,
that he provided. This and they had this discussion. When unanimity was reached, Bud
was a daunting chal- shouted to Miss Law “It’s Harry!” Indeed, in the fall, Harry came,
lenge for all of us, but but it wasn’t the Harry that they had thought. They had voted for
his message was clear the Canadian, but the man who showed up was Harry Hess. Bud
--- “you can all learn the (Arthur Buddington) smiled gracefully and welcomed him; he
techniques on your own never batted an eye, and that’s where things are a mystery! Whether
if you have some guid- this is true or not I don’t know. If this story was invented, I wouldn’t
ance and are focused
wonder if Harry invented it! It was like him, you know.
on meeting the chal- I’ve often wondered about that picture that hung in Harry’s
lenge”. Another mem- house, the little admiral, do you remember? It was a little boy,
orable occasion was dreamy-eyed, looking through a window at the sea and a sailing
the appearance of an
ship out there, and this was passed off as having been a painting of
unusual invited speaker Harry when he was a little boy. I would not be at all surprised if
in the Department. Im-
that was a much later gift or whether Harry himself found it and
manuel Velikovsky had
took a shine to it. He wasn’t yet an admiral, but he had become
published some truly
deeply ingrained in the navy, but anyway of course, he wound up
outrageous scientific
an admiral. Well, you know the rest of his wonderful experiences,
hypotheses in his attempts to explain some of the prevalent myths but mysteries remain, and I think it makes him all the more fasci-
of the ancient world by revising contemporary understanding of nating. There is one little other thing I’d like to say. He was very
archeology, geology, and astronomy. The grad students were ready receptive to student brilliance, and there is a man here, with us
to ridicule Velikovsky and his ideas, but Harry introduced him tonight, who wrote a thesis. Harry read it, and after the guy had
graciously, listened to him politely, and treated him courteously in defended it, Harry looked at it, and said, “That man has courage
the ensuing discussion. Harry’s humility and respect for human - he’s got what it takes”. That from Harry was the most tremen-
dignity set an example for all of us. dous compliment, and I’m still just wowed by the man. Thanks.
As with many of the other speakers, one the most important Transcribed by Rosemary Barker.
influences Harry Hess had on my career was an appreciation of
the importance of integrating different scientific perspectives in the Comments by Hugh Greenwood*60, faculty 1960-67, January
quest to solve the fundamental problems of how the earth works. 13, 2006
I was privileged to have known him. <[email protected]> It is a privilege to offer a few comments on how Harry Hess
deeply affected my science and my life. After finishing a Master’s
Al Fischer, faculty 1956-84, comments on Harry Hess,
degree at the University of British Columbia and working for a
September 14, 2005
year and a half as a mining geologist in Noranda, Quebec, I finally
Harry basically loved mystery stories, and he liked to be
decided I should look around for a graduate school. Like many
something of a mystery man. Many of you may recall some of
young graduates I applied to several schools, wondering if I would
his conversations. He liked to tell stories. A story would start out
ever be accepted, and to my surprise was apparently acceptable to
very straightforward; he would say: “You’re going to learn some all. But the men I most wanted to work with were Harry Hess
things here”, and then things would become slightly funny and and Arthur Buddington, so in the event the decision was easy.
peculiar and, after awhile, they’d be perfectly preposterous, and
you would realize that he had been pulling your leg all along, and What I didn’t know when I arrived was that he was an admiral in
the big challenge was where did he switch from fact to fancy? This the U.S. navy and was often away. It was hard to get his attention
was impossible to tell, as he had rendered them so wonderfully. even when he was at Guyot probably because he had a lot more on
There are many stories about Harry that are funny, peculiar, and his mind than the hopeful concerns of a new grad student. Eventu-
undocumented, and I wonder how many he invented, and how ally after a couple of months I was able to show him what I had
many other people invented. There is the story that he did not brought with me. I spread out my maps and specimens, filling the
graduate from Geology at Yale, but from Electrical Engineering. entire laboratory with material that I thought would be my Ph.D.
I don’t know if that’s true or not, but you could easily check up thesis. There were some 300 carefully collected specimens, and
on that, so that we would know the truth. Anyway, he came to several large maps of the volcanic rocks of Lake Dufault Mines. I
Princeton, having done a year’s fieldwork in Africa. They had no was going to do the definitive study on volcanogenic ore deposits
base maps, they had nothing to work on, they were supposed to of the shield. Finally, Professor Hess came to look at it. He stood
sample an area for copper ore, but there were no outcrops in the there and looked around smoking continuously for a good half-
area. What they did, they had to determine true North, and then hour, and said “Very good, Greenwood,” a remark that puffed me
lay out a grid for pace and compass traverses, and sample the up considerably for a moment. But then he said, “But you can’t
soil. Mostly they sampled ant heaps or termite heaps to get stuff. do this for a thesis.” “Well, why not?” I asked. “You’ve done too
Meanwhile Harry had applied to Princeton. The story goes, and
I have no way of checking on this, that the admissions committee
had sat down, and they had nine people, they had room for nine
and they had chosen eight, and number nine came along, and there
The Smilodon, a Web Supplement 6 July 1, 2006
Rabbit doodles by Harry Hess.
much (already). Do something else.” Whereupon he wandered, rine to get below the near surface zone disturbed by waves. They
smoking, out of the lab. convinced the US Navy of the value of this work and an ancient
The thing is, the man was right - he changed my life in a way First World War submarine was assigned to the project. The only
that I couldn’t have anticipated. He knew more about me than I problem was that it was not possible for a civilian to give a subma-
knew about myself, and he hardly knew me at that time. rine captain the orders that would be necessary for maneuvering
I should bring this up too. There should be declared a new the vessel to make the measurements. The solution was for Harry
physical law. There is a thermodynamic physical law called Hess’s to join the navy. In those days it was the prerogative of senior US
Law, but there is a more important Hess’s Law that I think we all admirals to simply create several commissioned officers by decree
understand, and that is that all horizontal surfaces shall be covered each year. No previous experience necessary! An admiral was found
with paper to the angle of repose. Astonishingly Harry could al- who had not used up his quota for the year and Harry instantly
ways approach that pile, pause a moment, and dig into it to find became a junior officer in the navy. The final step was to find a
whichever journal article or letter that was needed. He must have junior submarine commander with whom Harry would have equal
been maddening for secretaries but he was fascinating to the rest rank. During the marine gravity work Harry could then consult
of us. with his civilian adviser and give navigation orders to the submarine
In another way for me he was life-changing. At the point when I captain! I cannot vouch for the veracity of the tale but that is how
had barely finished my thesis, and was employed, if you can believe Harry told it.
it, as a physical chemist at the Carnegie Geophysical Lab he called Many of Harry’s stories related to his time in the Navy during
up one day, and said “Let’s have dinner at the Cosmos Club.” “But the Second World War. After the gravity work he had continued
Harry, I’m not a member of the Cosmos Club, that’s only for the in the naval reserve and undergone some formal training. After
elite.” Harry said, “Well, I’m a member, come and have dinner Pearl Harbor (I think) he was called to full time duty.
and we can have a talk”. Well, we had dinner, and we had quite a At one stage he was in charge of an office that coordinated
few glasses of this and that, and talked long into the night. I went intelligence on the movements of hostile submarines in the At-
home, and said, “Sylvia, let’s start planning to pack up; I’m going lantic. The information available was normally imprecise and
to be on the faculty at Princeton and I’ve got to go”. incomplete. Ideally it consisted of a location, a direction of travel,
Harry made good changes in many lives. He sized people up, and a speed. The aim was to judge what the enemy submarines
and made suggestions that seriously and beneficially affected the were up to and to warn allied convoys accordingly. He began by
way they conducted their lives. To me, he will always be a great choosing teams of applied mathematicians and physicists but that
man. <[email protected]> was not a success because they felt that it was impossible to draw
any conclusions from such poor data and regarded the problems as
Some memories of Harry by Ron Oxburgh *60, Feb 26.
insoluble. After several experiments he ended up with a team that
2006
was largely geologists who as he commented were “the only group
There are three kind of Harry story – stories that Harry him-
that was comfortable with making confident predictions on the
self told about his past, stories about Harry, told first hand, and
basis of terrible data”. If I remember rightly both Franklyn Van
stories that have been passed by word of mouth from generation
Houten *41 and John Maxwell *46 were at various times in that
to generation of students becoming embellished on the way!
team. Harry used to smile wryly and comment on how highly his
I will limit myself to the first two. Harry would tell his stories
unit was regarded by the Navy. He explained that if the convoys
either late in the evening over a Cuba Libre or during the inter-
encountered no submarines where predicted, it was assumed that
minable waits – they could be for almost anything - that tended
they were submerged, and if they did the prediction was accurate!
to be an inescapable feature of work in the Caribbean in the late
He also had comments on the relative effectiveness of German and
fifties.
Italian submarines. He believed that because the Germans were very
I think that earliest chronologically was Harry’s account of how
efficient, once he had obtained a speed and a direction he knew
he got into the navy. In the thirties he had become very interested
where they were going, and to that extent they were predictable.
in the work of the Dutch geophysicist, Vening Meinesz who had
The Italians, however, were by nature unpredictable and he claimed
devised a way of making gravity measurements at sea. Harry con-
that where they went depended on the weather and the inclination
vinced him of the value of making gravity measurements at sea
of the captain, and he could never predict where they would turn
around deep ocean trenches and island arcs – both of which were
up and they were consequently more effective.
poorly known at the time. Accuracy was, however, poor and they
When he got a ship of his own he was able to interpret naval
had the idea of improving the measurements by using a subma-
orders and procedures in his own way. During the latter part of
The Smilodon, a Web Supplement 7 July 1, 2006
Hess, circa 1945, in the Navy. For the earlier years of the Caribbean project in Venezuela, the
country was under a fairly unpleasant military dictatorship and it
the Pacific war he normally
was very easy to be thrown in jail for the most trivial act. Harry
cruised with his acoustic
was put in jail by the police - I think only overnight - for walking
depth sounder continu-
across the Plaza Bolivar without wearing a jacket. This was showing
ously pinging the sea floor.
disrespect to Simon Bolivar, the Liberator. When he pointed out
The rationale was that no
that others were not wearing jackets he was told that they did not
military vessel would be
own jackets but would wear them if they had them. These were
crazy enough to announce
trying times and the approach that Harry found was most effec-
its presence by doing this
tive for coping with officialdom was not to be able to speak any
and that everyone would
Spanish at all but to be endlessly patient, smiling and seeming to
think that he was a non-
have no other wish in the world other than to oblige, if only he
combatant survey vessel.
could understand. On at least one occasion when stopped by the
This allowed him to accu-
traffic police and asked for his papers, he immediately responded
mulate a many thousands
by opening the hood of the car and with gestures demonstrated
of miles of surveyed tracks
the motor. When they made it clear that they were not interested
that ultimately saw the light
in the motor he operated the lights and showed them that they all
of day in his seminal paper
worked; then the trunk. Then he opened his suitcase and started
on the bathymetry of the
taking out his possessions. When they made it clear that they were
Pacific that was published in Bulletin of the GSA in 1948. The captain’s
not interested, he took them round to the front of the car and
eccentricities became well known on the ship and all understood that
opened the hood once more. At that point they threw their hands
he was interested in rocks. His crew did indeed bring him rocks even
in the air and gave him up as a harmless lunatic and went to look
to the extent of grabbing rocks from the beaches of Pacific islands
for bribes elsewhere.
where they had been landing forces under fire!
My first encounter with Harry was in 1957. I traveled from the
At some stage his ship’s crew had acquired a jeep, which made
UK to Trinidad by banana boat and thence to Venezuela. After I’d
life on shore a lot easier. Ultimately this jeep reached the end of its
been a few weeks in the field with Gordie Taylor *60 in Margarita,
serviceable existence and was more trouble than it was worth. The
Harry arrived in the course of his annual Caribbean tour. We met
problem was that it was logged as part of the ship’s equipment and
up in Caracas and then headed for the Araya peninsula, which was
they could find no way of disposing of it in any way that would
a potential thesis area for me. There was no land access to the pen-
satisfy the bureaucrats. Finally Harry had it pushed over the side
insula, an arid desert, and the only approach was by sea. For us this
of the ship. It was then recorded as sunk, an acceptable way of
meant a trip of several hours in small and stinking wooden fishing
ending the life of a piece of naval equipment!
boat. The outward trip was calm and easy and gave us a very hot
He used to horrify the captains of fuelling tenders while refuel-
and thirsty day in the field. In the evening, however, a storm blew
ing at sea. The conventional technique was apparently for both
up and the return trip was memorable. The problem was that it
vessels to sail on nearly parallel converging courses and then to
was necessary to carry a number of large rocks in the bottom of the
cruise at speed, close together, while the fuelling bowsers were con-
boat for ballast. The boat rose to the crest of each large wave and
nected and to remain that way until the operation was complete.
then crashed down into the next trough followed a moment later
Collisions were common. The captain of the ship being refueled
by the rocks which showed every sign of going straight through
always directed the operation and Harry’s approach was to order
the rotting planks of the bottom. Harry simply sat in the stern,
the tender to come to a dead stop while he did the same with his
chain smoking and watching the rocks with philosophical calm.
ship along side but several hundred feet away. He then sent bow
Subsequently he confided that he too had thought that we would
and stern lines across to the tender and winched his ship sideways
not make it to land.
until the two ships were alongside and the fuel lines connected.
One winter in the early sixties (?1961/62) Harry was invited to
Not very elegant, he admitted, but he never had a mishap.
come to the UK to speak at the annual British Geology Students’
Scientifically, he said that his greatest excitement arose from
meeting—sadly it no longer happens. It was being held in Cam-
an idea and some calculations that were totally wrong. After his
bridge that year and I traveled from Oxford to hear what he had
discovery of guyots he did a calculation that suggested (in a pre-
to say. It was breath-taking—one of the first, if not the first, public
sea floor spreading era) that the different heights of the erosional
expositions of sea-floor spreading, complete with the seams on the
guyot tops reflected the progressive filling of the ocean basins with
baseball analogy to explain the topology of ridges and trenches. Sir
land-derived sediment; the deepest were oldest and had been eroded
Edward Bullard who was Professor of Geophysics in Cambridge
at a time when the oceans were less full of sediment and sea-level
at the time had been invited to give the vote of thanks. He had
was lower. I don’t know whether this was ever published.
not liked the talk. He was of the Harold Jeffrey’s school and was
As a salutary tale about not paying enough attention to detail,
absolutely clear that if the Earth had the elastic properties necessary
he described how for years he had been aware of certain discrepan-
to explain its seismic structure, it had to be too strong to admit
cies in the x-ray data that he was accumulating on pyroxenes, and
of the kind of motions Hess was suggesting. In his speech he
had simply chosen to ignore it as experimental error, improbably
thanked Professor Hess for his most interesting talk but confessed
large though it was. Much too late, in his view, he recognized that
to being unsure whether it owed more to the science of Physics or
he had been seeing the difference between othopyroxenes and
Metaphysics! Only a few years later Bullard had Alan Smith *63
clinopyroxenes.
The Smilodon, a Web Supplement 8 July 1, 2006
working on fits of the continental margins! In the UK at that time map flat to free his hands to light another cigarette. He would then
central heating was not common and that winter was exceptionally need to point something out and put the second cigarette down
cold. Harry was staying at the home of the Cambridge Professor of etc. etc.—it was not uncommon to see him surrounded by four
Geology, Bulman, the graptolite specialist. I asked him whether he cigarettes alight at one time.
was comfortable. He hesitated and then said that his bedroom was I was at the time, and continue to be, astonished by the way in
on the cool side—“you know if you touch the walls your fingers which Harry could carry in his head the details of so much Ca-
stick.” ribbean stratigraphy. His summer Caribbean trips lasted four or
At the end of my second field season in Venezuela I returned to five weeks as he visited his various students distributed around the
Princeton in the Fall and Ursula came out from the UK and we islands or on the mainland of Venezuela. Astonishingly he seemed
got married in the Princeton Chapel. It was a great departmental to be able to shift overnight from one geological scenario to another
wedding but that is another story. Of course Harry was there and and instantly recall and then discuss the excruciating details of
was due to propose the health of the bride and groom. The only stratigraphy to which his graduate students exposed him.
problem was that in the chapel Annette spotted that he was wear- Although some of his students were accompanied in the field by
ing the jacket from a blue suit and the pants from a brown one their wives others were not. After his visiting his students Harry
so he was sent home to change before the reception at the Dick always made a point of somehow coming across the wives who were
Holland ‘47’s house! back in Princeton for the summer and giving them first hand news
In 1959 some Shell geologists organised a field trip in the Ven- of their husbands’ progress, It was much appreciated. Equally at
ezuelan Coast Ranges. They had been working in a region adjacent the tenser time of thesis writing, he would from time to time have
to that which I was mapping and Harry and I were invited to join a word with the wives who as often as not were doing the typing.
them. It had been an interesting but long day and, unusually, we My wife Ursula recalls one such occasion when she was suffering
had encountered a number of barbed wire fences. There were several from my waxing lyrical about the amazing colours of the rocks
very polite Swiss in the party and a ritual developed according to which all looked grey to her. She asked him whether the rocks
which one of the party would rush forward to hold the strands apart were really like that. The reply was “Don’t worry, I never read the
so that the rest of the party could crouch through. One member of colours in their theses!” <[email protected]>
the party, H, stood out; he was a man totally devoid of any sense
Reminiscences of Harry Hess by Eldridge Moores *63, De-
of humour but invaluable before the days of data bases because he
cember 28, 2005
simply knew everything that had been written about South Ameri-
Harry Hess was one of the most influential and memorable
can geology. Right at the end of the day we came across a fence that
individuals I have ever met. His personal invitation was perhaps
we could walk across because it had fallen down on its side where
the single most important factor tipping the scales in favor of my
the posts had rotted at the bottom. On this occasion Harry, who
attending Princeton. My first encounter with him occurred when
had not previously participated in the ritual, ran forward grabbed
I first arrived. Miss Law escorted me into his office, and I was non-
the fence and picking it up held the strands apart for H who was
plussed. There was the famous man surrounded by stacks of paper
at the front of the party. H duly started to step through the fence
and clouds of cigarette smoke, looking up of sleepily, and saying
but half way through he stopped dead and then looked up at Harry
something like “Oh, hullo Moores.” I said something like “Thanks
and said, ‘But Professor we could have walked over this one.’ The
for all you have done for me”. And his response was something
rest of the party was incapable with mirth for about ten minutes.
akin to “Well, we hope to do a lot more”. It was an unusual and
Harry’s mineralogy lectures were probably the worst classes that
warming experience for someone fresh out of the super pressure
I ever attended. They consisted of Harry’s writing semi-legibly on
cooker of Caltech.
the black board and muttering incomprehensibly with his back to
Hess was a quiet lecturer.
the class and a cigarette in his mouth. In a curious way they were
He was not particularly dy-
extremely effective because what became clear from those mutter-
namic or even well organized.
ings that we could interpret, and the words on the board that we
But one soon learned to
could read, was that there were various topics that we were sup-
listen carefully. Similarly, in
posed to understand but of which we had no comprehension. As
a conversational situation,
consequence we all went away and studied furiously and ended up
when Harry started to speak,
quite competent mineralogists.
one learned to stop and listen
Harry’s smoking was legendary. One wrinkle that I learned very
carefully, because he would
early—from Gordie Taylor I think—was that Harry could only
invariably say something
think when he was smoking. This meant that if you were taking
fresh and worth listening to.
him to a really complex outcrop where you needed his help, it
My field experiences with
was essential to make sure that you had matches and a carton of
Hess began with an adven-
Chesterfields in your pack. You knew that if you ran out of either,
turous summer in Haiti fol-
Harry would first lapse into silence and shortly afterwards suggest
lowed by a month in Jamaica.
that it was time to go back! He loved maps whether in the office or
Three students—Martand
in the field and loved to gaze at them and ponder their significance.
This was a highly tobacco-intensive activity. He would normally
Hess trimming a specimen, Magne-
have one cigarette alight. He would then need to put this down
tigorsk, USSR, 1937. Photo by A. F.
to open up the map. He would then find something to hold the Buddington.
The Smilodon, a Web Supplement 9 July 1, 2006
As I was finishing my thesis in Nevada, I heard from John Max-
well about a project on a northern Greek ophiolite. I convinced
John and Harry to let me have a crack at it, although Hess at
the time took a dim view of the interpretation of a close relation-
ship between the peridotites and extrusive rocks of the ophiolitic
suite—thinking instead that they were independent. I traveled to
Greece in Summer, 1963, returning to the US in October, 1964.
Hess and Maxwell paid me a visit in Summer 1964, along with
Don Wise *57 and Ron Oxburgh *60. Maxwell, Hess and I
subsequently visited several Italian ophiolite exposures. We received
a letter from Hess after the trip, thanking us, in his usual humble
way, for the trip, and saying that he now believed the ophiolite story.
The following year he published an article in the Colston Research
volume relating ophiolites to ocean crust formed by spreading.
Hess in his office circa 1960.
Harry took a liking to the local wine of northern Greece, so
Joshi *63, Bill MacDonald *65, and I went to Haiti together,
when I left, I bought him a bottle from the restaurant—it was 75¢
spent about 6 weeks, and then picked up Harry in Port-au-Prince
for 1 1/2 liters, with a rag in the top, but with a 50¢ deposit on
and toured the areas in which we had done reconnaissance—mainly
the bottle. I found a cork, but I expect that by the time my trunk
in the north. Arriving back in Port-au-Prince with a day to spare,
returned to Princeton, it was well converted to vinegar.
we decided to drive to the south coast. Many hours later (one
As I was writing up the Greek work, I ran onto the Memoirs
could average about 10 mph on Haitian roads), we came late in the
of the Cyprus Geological Survey. The Troodos complex, Cyprus,
afternoon to a critical point—a bulldozer parked on a tight curve
looked like a possibility for ocean crust formed by sea floor spread-
with a soft shoulder high up on a hill, and luckily, the first other
ing. After a two-day reconnaissance with John Dickey *69 in
vehicle we had seen that afternoon—a Haitian Army Jeep with an
Summer, 1966, I wrote a report to Hess and Maxwell about it.
officer negotiating his own vehicle past the barrier using the locals
Apparently the report convinced Fred Vine, faculty 1965-69, that
(about 50-100 of which would appear out of the bush whenever
it was a place worth looking into. He approached Hess and asked
you stopped). We did the same thing. But we were “blancs”, and
to take a look at it, but Harry apparently thought that it wasn’t
“Papa Doc” had recently made an anti-American speech. As we
worth his effort. Vine came to me and suggested that we look at
got back into the vehicle, Hess quietly said between puffs of his
it together. We went to Hess with this proposition, and he gave
cigarette, “I think you’d better get going (puff). These fellows have
his blessing. With a year’s delay because of political difficulties,
machetes (puff) and it looks like they are going to use them”. We
Fred and I went to Cyprus in Summer 1968. My wife Judy and
got out of there pronto. Reaching the local town, we forded the
14-month-old daughter Geneva accompanied me.
mouth of the river (with Hess directing us to disconnect the fan
On the way back from Cyprus, Judy and I (and Geneva) stopped
belt first), found a gas station, and had dinner at the local hotel.
off in Princeton. I went to see Hess. When he learned that my
At 8 PM, we started back for Port-au-Prince so Harry could catch
family was with me, he told me firmly to bring them around to his
his plane the next day. It took us over 6 hours to make the 60 miles
house late that afternoon. As we walked in the door, Harry barely
back to our hotel. This involved some 50-75 fords of a Bilharzias-
looked at Judy and me; he focused solely on our toddler, saying
containing stream, during two of which we drowned the engine.
“Hello, let’s go get some toys.” The two of them disappeared while
After the first drowning (I was driving), for a moment there was
Annette entertained Judy and me for over an hour. Harry and
dead silence in the vehicle. The only lights were from lightning in
Geneva eventually emerged with her calmly munching a cookie.
the mountains ahead, and the tip of Harry’s cigarette. I climbed
We all have our Hess stories, and mine are just as numerous,
out, dried off the spark plugs with my handkerchief, the Jeep
funny, and fun to relate as others. But despite the terrible over-
started right up, and off we went. Arriving back about 2:30 AM
commitment that Hess experienced, I was impressed that he on
at the hotel’s self-service outdoor bar, Harry said, “I think we’d
several times showed a sensitivity and concern for graduate students
better have a drink” “And make it a strong one.” He took a long
who were not his own. For example, one point in Haiti, he asked
draft, put it down, and said, “I don’t think you should work in
me about Alan Smith *63, who had met his future wife Judy, and
the Southern Peninsula.” As we were driving Harry to the airport,
whether it was the right thing for him to do. I assured him that
past one of the most horrible seaside slums anyone can imagine,
Judy was a fine person, and he seemed relieved.
Harry suddenly brightly announced “I know just what these people
Harry was not always tuned into the “real world.” On one of
need—a brassiere factory. It would give them something to do, and
our visits to the Hess home, Annette told us that on the way home
it would give every woman a lift!”
from Europe, she had realized that Harry’s smallpox vaccination
We spent a few days more in northern Haiti, while Harry wrote
was out of date. So she made a point of looking for someone who
a hand-written penciled letter to the head of the Geological Survey
might be forgiving. She spotted a burly fellow at one immigration
in Jamaica, informing him he was sending two students to work
counter who sported a big anchor tattoo on his arm. So she steered
there. Martand Johsi and I went to Jamaica, while Bill MacDon-
Harry to his line. The man said, “Well, Admiral, you have a little
ald went to the Dominican Republic as a field assistant for Curry
irregularity here, but we’ll keep it in the Navy family,” and waved
Palmer *63. I would have continued working in Jamaica except
them through.
for family problems—and I always regretted it, once telling Harry
We all thought at the time that Hess was perhaps the one geolo-
so. I think that he forgave me.
The Smilodon, a Web Supplement 10 July 1, 2006