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Ursula Marvin

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Ursula Bailey Marvin (August 20, 1921 – February 12, 2018)[1][2] was an American planetary geologist and author who worked for the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.[3]

Ursula B. Marvin
Marvin in 1978
Born
Ursula Bailey

(1921-08-20)August 20, 1921
Bradford, Vermont, U.S.
DiedFebruary 12, 2018(2018-02-12) (aged 96)
Concord, Massachusetts, U.S.
EducationTufts University,
Harvard University-Radcliffe
Known forContinental Drift: Evolution of a Concept
SpouseThomas Crockett Marvin
AwardsLifetime Achievement Award from Women in Science and Engineering
Scientific career
FieldsPlanetary geology
InstitutionsSmithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

She won the 1997 Women in Science and Engineering Lifetime Achievement Award.[4] In 1986, the Geological Society of America awarded her their History of Geology Award. She also won the 2005 Sue Tyler Friedman Medal,[5] and Antarctica's Marvin Nunatak is named in her honor. In 2012, the Meteoritical Society awarded her the Service Award[6][7] in part for her work recording the oral history of meteoriticists.[8][9] Asteroid (4309) Marvin is named in her honour, as is Marvin Crater on the Moon, located near the Lunar south pole.[10][11]

Early life and education

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Ursula Bailey was born in Bradford, Vermont, on August 20, 1921, to Harold Leslie Bailey and Alice M. Bailey.[12][13] Her childhood near the White Mountains of New Hampshire, where, as she recalled in 1997, sunsets "shone with a pink-purple afterglow," inspired her with a love of the outdoors, but did not, at first, spark an interest in geology.[12] While studying history at Tufts University, she took a geology class to fulfill her science requirements and was taken by the subject. She asked her geology professor to change majors to geology, but he refused (he told her she should learn how to cook) so she added geology, math and physics courses to her schedule.[12] She graduated with a bachelor's degree in history from Tufts University in 1943z She then attended Harvard University-Radcliffe, earning a master's degree in geology in 1946.

Career and research

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Ursula B. Marvin in Antarctica

Following World War II, she moved to Chicago, where she was a research associate at the University of Chicago,[12] working with Julian Goldsmith.[14] She was briefly married to Lloyd Chaisson, a dental student at the University of Chicago.[12]

She then returned to Harvard, to work on her Ph.D. in geology. While at Harvard she worked alongside her second husband, Thomas Crockett Marvin (June 28, 1916 – July 1, 2012), whom she married in 1952. They prospected for ore deposits in Brazil and Angola starting in 1953.[12] After returning to the United States in 1958, she taught mineralogy at Tufts for two years before she was offered a job researching meteorites at Harvard.[12] She was appointed to a permanent research staff position at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in 1961 and received a Ph.D. in geology from Harvard in 1969.[8]

She authored the 1973 book Continental Drift: Evolution of a Concept[15] and authored over 160 research papers. Her key contributions in planetary science concentrated on studies of meteorites and lunar samples. Her publications include analysis of oxidation products of Sputnik 4 to determine mineralogical alteration over exposure time with applications to iron meteorites.[16] She was also involved with numerous studies of returned samples from both the American and Russian lunar programs, including from the Apollo 12,[17] Apollo 15,[18] Apollo 16[19][20] missions, and from Luna 16[21] and Luna 20.[22]

She traveled to Antarctica for three of the early ANSMET surveys[23] and analyzed the first lunar meteorite, Allan Hills A81005.[24] She was the first woman on the American team that conducted research there.[12] Because of her contributions to research in Antarctica, a small mountain on the ice sheet was named for her, Marvin Nunatak.

She served as a trustee at Tufts University from 1975 to 1985, and was an emerita trustee of the university.[25]

Awards and honors

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References

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ursula Marvin.
  1. ^ R.R. Bowker Co (2009). American Men & Women of Science. Thomson/Gale ISBN 9781414433059
  2. ^ Marquard, Bryan (February 19, 2018). "Ursula Bailey Marvin, 96, groundbreaking geologist". Boston Globe. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
  3. ^ ABC-CLIO American Women of Science Since 1900 ISBN 9781598841589
  4. ^ Staff report (July 1997). Ursula Marving honoers by 'WISE' award for lifetime achievement in science. The CfA Almanac
  5. ^ Geological Society of London. "Award winners since 1931: Sue Tyler Friedman Medal". Retrieved 2013-11-24.
  6. ^ "Awards of The Meteoritical Society". The Meteoritical Society. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
  7. ^ "Awardees of the Meteoritical Society". The Meteoritical Society. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
  8. ^ a b Sears, Derek (13 July 2012). "2012 Service Award of the Meteoritical Society for Ursula Marvin". Meteoritics & Planetary Science. 47 (7): 1238–1240. Bibcode:2012M&PS...47.1238S. doi:10.1111/j.1945-5100.2012.01389.x.
  9. ^ Marvin, Ursula (13 July 2012). "Response to Presentation of the Service Award of the Meteoritical Society". Meteoritics and Planetary Science. 47 (7): 1241–1242. Bibcode:2012M&PS...47.1241M. doi:10.1111/j.1945-5100.2012.01388.x.
  10. ^ "(4309) Marvin = 1978 QC = 1978 SE8 = 1973 SK4 = 1973 UW". The International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  11. ^ "IAU Approves the Name for Marvin Crater: Learn About Ursula Marvin and Marvin Crater | U.S. Geological Survey".
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h Sandomir, Richard (2018-03-09). "Ursula Marvin, Geologist of the Extraterrestrial, Dies at 96". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
  13. ^ "Ursula B. Marvin - Monday, February 12th, 2018". www.keefefuneralhome.com. Retrieved 2022-12-22.
  14. ^ Goldsmith, Julian R. (May 1991). "Some Chicago Georecollections". Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences. 19 (1): 1–18. Bibcode:1991AREPS..19....1G. doi:10.1146/annurev.ea.19.050191.000245. ISSN 0084-6597. S2CID 131236836.
  15. ^ Marvin, Ursula B. (1974). Continental drift : the evolution of a concept (2. print., with corrections ed.). Washington, DC: Smithsonian Inst. Press.
  16. ^ Marvin, Ursula (1 Sep 1963). "Mineralogy of the oxidation products of the Sputnik 4 fragment and of iron meteorites". Journal of Geophysical Research. 68 (17): 5059–5068. Bibcode:1963JGR....68.5059M. doi:10.1029/JZ068i017p05059.
  17. ^ Marvin, Ursula (Feb 18, 1985). "A transient heating event in the history of a highlands troctolite from Apollo 12 soil 12033". Journal of Geophysical Research. 90 (S2): C420–C430. doi:10.1029/JB090iS02p0C421.
  18. ^ Marvin, Ursula (Feb 1989). "Cordierite-Spinel Troctolite, a New Magnesium-Rich Lithology from the Lunar Highlands". Science. 243 (4893): 925–928. Bibcode:1989Sci...243..925M. doi:10.1126/science.243.4893.925. PMID 17783768. S2CID 3031045.
  19. ^ Marvin, Ursula B.; Lindstrom, Marilyn M.; Bernatowicz, T. J.; Podosek, Frank A.; Sugiura, Naoji (1987). "The composition and history of breccia 67015 from North Ray Crater". Journal of Geophysical Research. 92 (B4): E471. Bibcode:1987JGR....92E.471M. doi:10.1029/JB092iB04p0E471.
  20. ^ Marvin, Ursula B.; Lindstrom, Marilyn M. (1983). "Rock 67015: A feldspathic fragmental breccia with KREEP-rich melt clasts". Journal of Geophysical Research. 88 (S02): A659. Bibcode:1983LPSC...13..659M. doi:10.1029/JB088iS02p0A659.
  21. ^ Reid, John B.; Taylor, G. Jeffrey; Marvin, Ursula B.; Wood, John A. (January 1972). "Luna 16: Relative proportions and petrologic significance of particles in the soil from Mare Fecunditatis". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 13 (2): 286–298. Bibcode:1972E&PSL..13..286R. doi:10.1016/0012-821X(72)90104-5.
  22. ^ Taylor, G.Jeffrey; Drake, Michael J; Wood, John A; Marvin, Ursula B (April 1973). "The Luna 20 lithic fragments, and the composition and origin of the lunar highlands". Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. 37 (4): 1087–1106. Bibcode:1973GeCoA..37.1087T. doi:10.1016/0016-7037(73)90203-2.
  23. ^ Marvin, Ursula (Dec 1979). "Meteorites on Ice: Preliminary Report on the 1978-1979 Antarctic Field Season". Meteoritics. 14: 486–487. Bibcode:1979Metic..14..486M.
  24. ^ Marvin, Ursula B. (September 1983). "The discovery and initial characterization of Allan Hills 81005: The first lunar meteorite". Geophysical Research Letters. 10 (9): 775–778. Bibcode:1983GeoRL..10..775M. doi:10.1029/GL010i009p00775.
  25. ^ "Trustees Emeriti at Tufts". Trustees Emeriti. Tufts University. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
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