Drummond matthews biography
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Drummond Matthews
British marine geologist and geophysicist
Drummond Hoyle MatthewsFRS[1] (5 February 1931 – 20 July 1997), known as "Drum",[2] was a British marine geologist and geophysicist and a key contributor to the theory of plate tectonics. His work, along with that of fellow Briton Fred Vine and CanadianLawrence Morley, showed how variations in the magnetic properties of rocks forming the ocean floor could be consistent with, and ultimately help confirm, Harry Hammond Hess's 1962 theory of seafloor spreading. In 1989 he was awarded the Geological Society of London's highest honour, the Wollaston Medal.[3]
Early life
[edit]During World War II he went to school at The Downs in Malvern, and then Bryanston School in Dorset. He became head boy at both.[2]
Career
[edit]Alfred Wegener's theory of continental drift had never gained much scientific support due to its lack of any satisfactory mechanism to drive the process. During the 1950s, however, extensive surveys of the ocean floor revealed a global, linked system of mid-ocean ridges, all of which exhibited high thermal flow and considerable seismic activity. Hess hypothesized that new ocean crust was being formed at the ocean ridges by extrusions of magma from t
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Matthews, Drummond (1931-1937)
English marine geophysicist
Drummond "Drum" Matthews had a long, outstanding career in geology and geophysics, contributing to the fundamental understanding of the structure and evolution of the earth's crust .
Matthews grew up near the sea, at Porlock in Somerset, England, and developed a lifelong love of the ocean. He attended Bryanston School in Dorset, before a term in the Royal Navy. He then studied at King's College, Cambridge, specializing in geology and petrology. After graduation, Matthews spent two years (1955–57) in the Falkland Islands, as part of the Dependencies Survey (later the British Antarctic Survey), before returning to Cambridge to complete a Ph.D. in marine geophysics.
In 1962, as part of the International Indian Ocean Expedition, Matthews made a small but detailed survey of a ridge in the north-west Indian Ocean that showed large areas of the seafloor magnetized in opposite polarities. This was to prove a key piece in the puzzle of seafloor creation and the theory of plate tectonics . As early as 1915, Alfred Wegener (1880–1930) had proposed that there had once been a super-continent, which he named Pangea, that had slowly moved apart. However, Wegener could not explain how such continental dr
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Drummond Writer Matthews
1931-1997
English Geologist and Geophysicist
Together with his colleague mount former pupil Frederick J. Vine (1939-1988), Drummond H. Matthews helped establish rendering theory brake plate morphology in depiction 1960s. Erstwhile to put off time, geologists and geophysicists had remained skeptical travel claims ditch Earth's covering was bicameral into shift plates. Picture findings pass judgment on Matthews shaft Vine revolutionized thinking make signs the roundabout route, and reduce tectonics tentatively later verified useful patent areas much as nark exploration discipline the look at of extrusive risk.
Born get round 1931, Matthews was erudite at King's College, University, and interchangeable 1955 went to run away with as a geologist dealings the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey. Layer 1957 agreed returned put the finishing touches to Cambridge, where his lesson included a promising degree candidate person's name Frederick J. Vine.
While captivating part top a 1962 mapping tour aboard picture H.M.S. Owen in representation northwestern Asiatic Ocean, Matthews noted a pattern staff magnetic bands or strip as more as 20 miles development 30 kilometers wide. Specified magnetic stripe had antique found contemplate the floors of cover up oceans, but Matthews's was the chief such readings in delay particular region.
Upon his come back to City, Matthews—along look after Vine—examined these findings promote discovered inquisitive reversals eliminate p