William Thomas Pecora: Difference between revisions
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| alma_mater = [[Harvard University]] and [[Princeton]] |
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===Life and Career=== |
===Life and Career=== |
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Willam Thomas Pecora was born in [[Belleville, New Jersey]], son of Cono and Anna (Amabile) Pecora. Both parents were born in southern Italy, in the village of [[Sant%27Arsenio|San Arsenio]]. One of 10 children, four boys and six girls. Bill was number 9. Family was in the wholesale import business. In 1929, Bill was awarded the Charles H. K. Halsey Scholarship that provided a $1,000 annual scholarship at [[Princeton University]]. Majored in [[geology]] and [[engineering geology|geologic engineering]] at |
Willam Thomas Pecora was born in [[Belleville, New Jersey]], son of Cono and Anna (Amabile) Pecora. Both parents were born in southern Italy, in the village of [[Sant%27Arsenio|San Arsenio]]. One of 10 children, four boys and six girls. Bill was number 9. Family was in the wholesale import business. In 1929, Bill was awarded the Charles H. K. Halsey Scholarship that provided a $1,000 annual scholarship at [[Princeton University]]. Majored in [[geology]] and [[engineering geology|geologic engineering]] at Princeton. Received his bachelors degree from Princeton in 1933. After graduation, he stayed on at Princeton as a tutor in [[geology]]. In the summer of 1934, he was a filed assistant to [[Erling Dorf]], working in [[Montana]] on [[Paleozoic]] [[stratigraphy]]. Bill started graduate studies at [[Harvard University]] in 1935, concentrating on [[optical mineralogy]] and [[petrography]]. Bill received a grant form the Holden Fund to finance fieldwork in 1937-1939 in the western fringe of the [[Bear_Paw_Mountains|Bearpaw Mountains]]. His doctoral thesis was a petrologic study of the Boxelder [[laccolith]]. He received his Ph. D. from [[Harvard University]] in 1940. |
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During the summer of 1936, Bill was in Germany as a member of the United States Olympic fencing team. He married Ethelwyn Elizabeth Carter on April 7, 1947. She was from [[Franklin County, Kentucky]]. They had two children, William Carter Pecora born in 1949 and Ann Stewart Pecora born in 1953. |
During the summer of 1936, Bill was in Germany as a member of the United States Olympic fencing team. He married Ethelwyn Elizabeth Carter on April 7, 1947. She was from [[Franklin County, Kentucky]]. They had two children, William Carter Pecora born in 1949 and Ann Stewart Pecora born in 1953. |
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Revision as of 01:27, 12 January 2009
William Thomas Pecora | |
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| Born | 1 February 1913 |
| Died | 19 July 1972 (aged 59) |
| Nationality | United States |
| Alma mater | Harvard University and Princeton University |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Petrology, Geology |
| Institutions | US Geological Survey |
William Thomas Pecora (February 1, 1913 – July 19,1972) was an American geologist.
Life and Career
Willam Thomas Pecora was born in Belleville, New Jersey, son of Cono and Anna (Amabile) Pecora. Both parents were born in southern Italy, in the village of San Arsenio. One of 10 children, four boys and six girls. Bill was number 9. Family was in the wholesale import business. In 1929, Bill was awarded the Charles H. K. Halsey Scholarship that provided a $1,000 annual scholarship at Princeton University. Majored in geology and geologic engineering at Princeton. Received his bachelors degree from Princeton in 1933. After graduation, he stayed on at Princeton as a tutor in geology. In the summer of 1934, he was a filed assistant to Erling Dorf, working in Montana on Paleozoic stratigraphy. Bill started graduate studies at Harvard University in 1935, concentrating on optical mineralogy and petrography. Bill received a grant form the Holden Fund to finance fieldwork in 1937-1939 in the western fringe of the Bearpaw Mountains. His doctoral thesis was a petrologic study of the Boxelder laccolith. He received his Ph. D. from Harvard University in 1940.
During the summer of 1936, Bill was in Germany as a member of the United States Olympic fencing team. He married Ethelwyn Elizabeth Carter on April 7, 1947. She was from Franklin County, Kentucky. They had two children, William Carter Pecora born in 1949 and Ann Stewart Pecora born in 1953.
In 1949, he started a large-scale geologic mapping program of eight fifteen-minute quadrangles in the Bearpaw Mountains. The first four of these maps was published in 1957 as Miscellaneous Geologic Investigation Maps and the other four were epublished in bulletins starting in 1960 and ending in 1963. In 1956, Bill published a review paper on carbonatites which are carbonate-silicate rocks containing a variety of minerals. He emphasized that these formations contain an impressive reserve of rare commodities – titanium, zirconium, and uranium. Later, in a 1962 paper, Bill concentrated on the carbonatite deposits in the Bearpaw Mountains.
In 1957, Bill was selected as Chief of the Branch of Geochemistry and Petrology within the United States Geological Survey . He established programs in geochronology, experimental petrology, and mineralogy. In 1961, he returned to research. He was named Chief Geologist in 1964 and a year later was appointed Director of the United States Geological Survey by President Lyndon B. Johnson. As Director, he pressed for programs that would be responsive to emerging national problems, such as investigations of gold resources and off-shore oil and gas exploration. He established the National Center of Earthquake Research in response to problems revealed by the Alaska earthquake of 1964.
Bill also addressed the discovery of large oil reserves of oil and gas on the north coast of Alaska in 1968. Under his Direction, the U.S. Geological Survey made a careful study of the geologic aspects of the proposed pipeline route. From 1947 to 1967 he was a member of the U.S. Civil Service Commission’s Board of Examiners for Geology, concerned with the development and maintenance of standards in the selection of geologists for federal employment. He was an active member of the Survey’s Pick and Hammer shows, which were presented annually to make fun of top Survey managers. He was appointed to serve as Undersecretary of the Department of Interior by President Richard Nixon on April 1, 1971.
Awards and Honors
- 1964 - President, Geological Society of Washington
- 1965 – Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- 1965 – Fellow, National Academy of Sciences
- 1968 – President, Cosmos Club
- 1968 – Distinguished Service Award, Department of the Interior
- 1969 – Doctorate of Science, Franklin and Marshall College
- 1969 – Rockefeller Public Service Award
- 1970 – Doctorate of Engineering, Colorado School of Mines
- 1972 – Public Service Award, American Association of Petroleum Geologists
- 1973 - a 6,000 foot ridge in the Bearpaw Mountains was named Pecora Ridge in honor of Bill Pecora.
- Fellow and Councilor, Geological Society of America
- Fellow and Councilor, Mineralogical Society of America
- A Conference and Award are named in his honor.
Publications
- Pecora, William T. “Structure and Petrology of the Boxelder laccolith, Bearpaw Mountains, Montana” Geological Society of America Bulletin, vol.52, no.6, pp.817-853, Jun 1941
- Pecora, William T. and S.W. Hobbs, “Nickel-gold deposit near Mount Vernon, Skagit County, Washington” US Geological Survey Bulletin No. 931-D, pp. 57-78 (1941)
- Pecora, William T. and S.W. Hobbs, “Nickel deposit near Riddle, Douglas County, Oregon” ” US Geological Survey Bulletin No. 931-I, pp. 205-226 (1942)
- Pecora, William Thomas “Nepheline-syenite pegmatites in the Bearpaw Mountains of Montana” American Mineralogist, vol. 24, no. 3, pp.191, Mar 1939
- Pecora, William Thomas and Bernard Fisher, “Cenozoic geologic history of the Bearpaw Mountains, Montana” Geological Society of America Bulletin, vol.52, no.12, Part 2, pp.1926-1927, Dec 1941
- Pecora, William T, “Nickel-silicate and associated nickel- cobalt-manganese-oxide deposits near Sao Jose do Tocantins, Goiaz, Brazil” US Geological Survey Bulletin, No. 0935-E, pp.247-305, 1944
- Brown, Roland Wilbur and William Thomas Pecora, “Paleocene and Eocene strata in the Bearpaw Mountains, Montana” Science, vol.109, no.2837, pp.487-489, May 1949
- Pecora, William T; Barbosa, Aluizio Licinio de M; Klepper, M R, “Mica deposits in Minas Gerais, Brazil” US Geological Survey Bulletin, No. 0964-C, pp.205-305, 1950
- Bannerman, Harold MacColl; Pecora, William Thomas “Training geologists; a United States Geological Survey viewpoint” US Geological Survey Circular, No. 73, 6 pp., 1950
- Lindberg, Marie Louise; Pecora, W T, “Tavorite and barbosalite; two new phosphate minerals from Minas Gerais, Brazil” Science, vol.119, no.3099, pp.739, 1954
- Lindberg, Marie Louise; Pecora, W T, “Avelinoite, a new hydrous sodium ferric phosphate mineral from Minas Gerais, Brazil” Science, vol.120, no.3130, pp.1074-1075, 1954
- Pecora, William Thomas, “Carbonatites; a review” Geological Society of America Bulletin, vol.67, no.11, pp.1537-1555, Nov 1956
- Pecora, William Thomas, “Coesite craters and space geology” Geotimes, vol.5, no.2, pp.16-19, 1960
- Schmidt, Robert George; Pecora, W T; Hearn, B C, Jr, “Geology of the Cleveland Quadrangle, Bearpaw Mountains, Blaine County, Montana” US Geological Survey Bulletin, No. 1141-P, pp.P1-P26, 1964
- Pecora, William T, “Surveying the Earth's resources from space” Surveying and Mapping, vol.27, no.4, pp.639-643, 1967
- Pecora, William T, “Geologic applications of earth orbital satellites “ Contained in “Space exploration and applications; Vol. 1” from the United Nations Conference on The Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, Vienna, Austria, 1968. pp. 634-644. 1969
Source Material
- Memorial of William Thomas Pecora February 1, l9l3-July 19, 1972
- Biographical Memoirs by National Academy of Sciences (U.S.) pp. 371-392 [accessed in Google Books, January 9, 2009]
