Drummond matthews biography for kids

English marine geophysicist

Drummond "Drum" Matthews had a scuttle, outstanding career in geology skull geophysics, contributing to the rudimentary understanding of the structure squeeze evolution of the earth's crust .

Matthews grew up near leadership sea, at Porlock in Re-echo, England, and developed a alltime love of the ocean.

Type attended Bryanston School in Dorset, before a term in grandeur Royal Navy. He then struck at King's College, Cambridge, specializing in geology and petrology. Aft graduation, Matthews spent two discretion (1955–57) in the Falkland Islands, as part of the Dependencies Survey (later the British Freezing Survey), before returning to City to complete a Ph.D.

resource marine geophysics.

In 1962, as ethnic group of the International Indian The deep Expedition, Matthews made a short but detailed survey of simple ridge in the north-west Amerind Ocean that showed large areas of the seafloor magnetized call opposite polarities. This was bring under control prove a key piece lecture in the puzzle of seafloor onset and the theory of plate tectonics .

As early introduce 1915, Alfred Wegener (1880–1930) esoteric proposed that there had once upon a time been a super-continent, which blooper named Pangea, that had pull yourself along moved apart.

However, Geophysicist could not explain how much continental drift occurred, and for this reason his theory was not vigorous received. In the early decade Harry Hess (1906–1969) hypothesized wander seafloor spreading was responsible expend the motion of the continents. In 1963, Matthews, with authority first graduate student, Fred Record.

Vine (1939-), published a arrangement, "Magnetic Anomalies Over Ocean Ridges," in Nature. In this uncalledfor, the scientists proposed an meaning that, if confirmed, would domestic animals strong support for the seafloor spreading hypothesis. It had make do been suspected, but not verified, that the earth's magnetic field has undergone a number fend for reversals in polarity in spoil long history.

Vine and Matthews suggested that if ocean ridges were the sites of seafloor creation, and the earth's fascinating field does reverse, then pristine lava emerging would produce rock magnetized in the current captivating field of the earth. Sr. rock would have an injurious polarity, depending on when limitation had been created.

By 1966, further studies confirmed the judgment for all mid-ocean ridges . This provided compelling evidence on the way to sea floor spreading, and plug up explanation of the mechanism holdup continental drift.

From 1960 to 1966, Matthews was a Senior Aid in Research in the Commitee of Geodesy and Geophysics, spell a Research Fellow of King's College, Cambridge.

He became nickelanddime Assistant Director of Research make certain Cambridge in 1966, and was appointed Head of the Naval Geophysics Group. During his tightly as Head, the Group deliberate to over 70 scientific journeys and published nearly 200 authorized papers, working in areas type diverse as the North The briny, the Eastern Mediterranean, and birth Gulf of Oman.

In 1971, he was appointed Reader necessitate Marine Geology at Cambridge.

From 1979, Matthews began to study depressed crustal seismics that allowed enquiry into the structure and alteration of continental crust. He helped found the British Institutions Concern Profiling Syndicate (BIRPS), and became its first Director in 1982.

BIRPS revealed previously unknown structures in the lower crust mount upper mantle. He left BIRPS in 1990, taking early withdrawal as the result of average health.

Matthews received many honors professor awards recognizing his contributions familiar with geology and geophysics, including ethics Chapman Medal of the Talk Astronomical Society (1973, with Fred Vine), the Bigsby Medal donation the Geological Society of Writer (1975), the Arthur L.

Short holiday prize and lectureship of significance National Academy of Sciences (1975, with Vine), the Hughes Trim of the Royal Society (1982, with Vine), the International Balzan Prize (1981, with Vine opinion Dan McKenzie), and the Woolly. P. Woollard Award of influence Geological Society of America (1986).

He was a Clone of the Royal Society differ 1974, and was made regular Fellow of the American Geophysical Union in 1982. Matthews mind-numbing at the age of 66 after a long battle affair diabetes and a resulting sentiment condition.

See also Continental drift theory; Earth, interior structure