Heezen, Bruce C.
| Name |
| ||||
| Birthname | Bruce Charles Heezen | ||||
| born on | 11 April 1924 at 15:50 (= 3:50 PM ) | ||||
| Place | Vinton, Iowa, 42n10, 92w01 | ||||
| Timezone | CST h6w (is standard time) | ||||
| Data source |
| ||||
| Astrology data |   21°43'   15°29 Asc. 18°31'
|
Biography
American geologist who worked with oceanographic cartographer Marie Tharp at Columbia University to map the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in the 1950s. Tharp was Heezen's assistant while he was a graduate student and he gave her the task of drafting seafloor profiles. When she showed Heezen that her plotting of the North Atlantic revealed a rift valley, Heezen initially dismissed it. Eventually they discovered that not only was there a North Atlantic rift valley, but a mountain range with a central valley that spanned the earth. They also realized that the oceanic earthquakes they had been separately plotting fell within the rift, a revolutionary theory at the time. He presented this mid-ocean rift and earthquake theory at Princeton in 1957.
Bruce C. Heezen died of a heart attack on 21 June 1977 at age 53 while on a research cruise to study the Mid-Atlantic Ridge near Iceland aboard the NR-1 submarine. Heezen Glacier in Antarctica was named after him in 1977.
Events
- Work : Great Achievement 1957 (PhD)
Source Notes
Birth certificate in hand from Sy Scholfield, copy on file. ("Bruce Lehailes Heezen").
Categories
- Traits : Mind : Education extensive (BA, MA, PhD)
- Family : Childhood : Only child
- Personal : Death : Illness/ Disease (Heart attack)
- Vocation : Science : Geology