AAAS ANNUAL MEETINO, 26-31 DECEMBER 1967, NEW YORK CITY

Lamont Geological Observatory

See Science, 22 September 1967, for details about registration for thetour to the New York Botanical Gardens.

". . . established to study, by appropriatetechniques from physics, chemistry, biol-ogy, geology, astronomy and mathemat-ics, the composition and structure of theearth, its history, the changes now takingplace in it, and its relationship to the restof the universe . . . and to perpetuate andincrease man's knowledge of the earth byteaching students those subjects in whichresearch is done at the Observatory."

Five years after Maurice Ewing, di-rector of the Lamont Geological Ob-servatory, was invited by ColumbiaUniversity to establish instruction andresearch in geophysics, the late Mrs.Thomas W. Lamont, widow of the fi-nancier, gave to Columbia (in 1949)the Lamont Torrey Cliff estate atop thePalisades on the west side of theHudson River in Palisades, New York.The gift of this 125-acre, wooded

estate, with its mansion and other build-ings, proved a most important turningpoint in the university's geophysics pro-

gram. It came at a tiine when a shel-tered place was being sought. A pro-

gram involving the use of seismographsand other sensitive instruments couldnot be carried out at Columbia's Morn-ingside Heights campus in New YorkCity. The metropolitan environment hastoo many interferences, including sub-way and traffic vibrations.Lamont Geological Observatory car-

ries on an extremely broad program

of study of the composition and struc-ture of the earth, its history, the changesnow taking place in it, and its relation-ship to the rest of the universe.

Answers are sought to such questionsas: How and when was the earth formed?The moon? The solar system? Howwere the earth's continents formed?Are new ones being created? Is theearth contracting or expanding? Is itheating up or cooling off? What was theorigin of the earth's magnetic field?What is the precise shape of the earth?

948

While the Observatory neglects no

avenue that might furnish a clue tothe answers, it emphasizes oceanograph-ic and ocean-bottom studies for severalreasons. The oceans cover more than70 percent of the earth's surface, anduntil the last quarter-century, that area

has been all but neglected scientifically.Much of the present land surface, in-cluding most mountains, is covered bymarine sediments. Similar sediments are

continuously being deposited on the bot-tom of the sea, and what may be futureland is now being developed.The Observatory operates research

vessels in this phase of the program.The famed veteran, Vema, which hastraversed all of the oceans of the globe,is now on her 24th scientific voyage.The Conrad is on the 11th voyage inthe service of Lamont.Aboard these ships, instruments

(many of them designed and built atLamont) are used to measure the mag-netic and gravitational fields, to makeprecision soundings, for seismic reflec-tion and refraction determinations ofthe nature of materials beneath theocean floor, for photographing the bot-tom of the sea, for determining the flowof heat through the ocean floor, and forstudying the propagation of sound inthe seas.

One of the important tasks at sea

is the taking of cores of deep-sea sedi-ment that has been laid down on theocean beds by nature and has re-

mained there undisturbed for ages. Toa scientist studying the history of theglobe, these sedimentary layers are likepages in a book. Several thousand cores

have been taken; some are 70 feet longand some are from depths as great as

4½/2 miles.An unexcelled seismograph station

has been developed at Torrey Cliff.More than two dozen instruments, set

up in subterranean vaults on solid rock,continuously detect and record earthwaves over an exceptionally broad fre-quency range, 1/5 to 3.000 seconds. TheObservatory also operates three otherseismograph stations: at Sterling Forest,N.Y., 1850 feet deep in a mine atOgdensburg, N.J.; and at St. Georges,Bermuda. A network of cooperating sta-tions, equipped by Lamont and extend-ing around the world, supply additionaldata.

Earthquake field investigations arebeing carried out in many parts of theworld, such as Alaska, western UnitedStates, Iceland, and East Africa.Lamont has also placed a seismograph21/2 miles below the surface of thePacific Ocean and 100 miles off thecoast of California.

Research programs at Lamont areextended around the earth by means ofexpeditions on land and at sea. Seismicstudies are carried out in many coun-tries and on many islands. Regular re-search stations are operating in acous-tics at Bermuda and in the CanaryIslands, and in marine biolcogy at St.John, Virgin Islands.

Programs and research facilities atLamont include seismology, marine geo-physics, submarine geology, marine biol-ogy, geochemistry, physical and chemi-cal oceanography, atmospheric physics,polar studies, and lunar and planetarystudies.Lamont Geological Observatory has

enjoyed remarkable growth both aca-demically and physically, in the 18short years since Mrs. Lamont gave herbeautiful estate to Columbia University.

Eighty-six students were enrolled inthe graduate-degree program during the1966-67 academic year, compared witheight students when the Observatorywas opened in 1949.As of November 1966, 55 students

had been awarded the Ph.D. and 26students the master's degree. About halfof the Ph.D. graduates are teaching insuch schools as Yale, Brown, Prince-ton, Massachusetts Institute of Technol-ogy, Georgia Institute of Technology,Rensselaer, Colorado School of Mines,University of Hawaii, Columbia, Uni-versity of Wisconsin, University ofArizona, University of Texas, Univer-sity of Rochester, and California Insti.tute of Technology.

Recognition of the quality of theObservatory's program is attested bythe fact that at the 1966 meeting ofthe Amerian Geophysical Union, 6.5

SCIENCE, VOL. 158

on May 1, 2021

http://science.sciencem

ag.org/D

ownloaded from

percent of the scientific papers werepresented by Lamont staff members andstudents. At the April 1967 meetingof the Union the number of papers pre-sented by the Observatory personnelgrew to 8 percent, and were presentedin each of the disciplines covered bythe Union.The Lamont estate had four build-

ings and four residences, including theLamont mansion, when Columbia re-ceived the property. In a very shorttime the mansion proved to be inade-quLate for all the personnel and equip-ment, and the Observatory embarked ona building program that brought thenumber of buildings to twelve and thenumber of residences to five. Plans areunderway for the graduate section ofthe Geology Department of ColumbtiaUniversity to move to the Lamont cam-pus.

The Lamont Geological Observatoryhas been able to carry on the majorportion of its research and developmentwork through contractual arrangementswith grants from United States govern-

Entrance to Lamont Hall, one of theoriginal buildings of the Lamont Estate. Itis now used to house the library, the MainSeminar Room for the Observatory andthe office of the Director and his staff.

ment agencies such as the Office ofNaval Research, the National ScienceFoundation, the Atomic Energy Com-mission, the National Aeronautics andSpace Administration, and the AirForce Cambridge Research Center.Columbia University has provided thefunds for the important and basicactivities including the supplying ofprofessional, research, and administra-tive staffs.Lamont Geological Observatory has

earned an enviable reputation withgovernment agencies for the worthwhileresults obtained for them from its re-search and related activities-activitiesperformed efficiently and at the mini-mum cost.The magnitude and scope of this

highly desirable research work at La-mont has been expanding year by yearas more and more interest has beendirected toward oceanographic andplanetary matters.

J. LAMAR WORZELLamon t Geological Observatory,Palisades, New York

Research vessel Vemna which will soon complete her 24th cruLise. Vemiia has covered about 560.000 miles of track, making geo-physical-oceanographic records while underway, and has made over 4000 separate oceanographic-geological-biological stations whilestopped.

17 NOVEMBER 1967 949

on May 1, 2021

http://science.sciencem

ag.org/D

ownloaded from

Lamont Geological ObservatoryJ. Lamar Worzel

DOI: 10.1126/science.158.3803.948 (3803), 948-949.158Science 

ARTICLE TOOLS http://science.sciencemag.org/content/158/3803/948.citation

PERMISSIONS http://www.sciencemag.org/help/reprints-and-permissions

Terms of ServiceUse of this article is subject to the

trademark of AAAS. is a registeredScienceAdvancement of Science, 1200 New York Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20005. The title

(print ISSN 0036-8075; online ISSN 1095-9203) is published by the American Association for theScience

of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.Copyright © 1967 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement

on May 1, 2021

http://science.sciencem

ag.org/D

ownloaded from