Harry Hammond Hess (May 24, 1906 – August 25, 1969) was an American
geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...
and a
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
officer in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
who is considered one of the "founding fathers" of the unifying theory of
plate tectonics
Plate tectonics (from the la, label= Late Latin, tectonicus, from the grc, τεκτονικός, lit=pertaining to building) is the generally accepted scientific theory that considers the Earth's lithosphere to comprise a number of larg ...
. He is best known for his theories on
sea floor spreading, specifically work on relationships between
island arcs, seafloor
gravity anomalies
The gravity anomaly at a location on the Earth's surface is the difference between the observed value of gravity and the value predicted by a theoretical model. If the Earth were an ideal oblate spheroid of uniform density, then the gravity meas ...
, and
serpentinized peridotite
Peridotite ( ) is a dense, coarse-grained igneous rock consisting mostly of the silicate minerals olivine and pyroxene. Peridotite is ultramafic, as the rock contains less than 45% silica. It is high in magnesium (Mg2+), reflecting the high pr ...
, suggesting that the convection of the Earth's
mantle
A mantle is a piece of clothing, a type of cloak. Several other meanings are derived from that.
Mantle may refer to:
*Mantle (clothing), a cloak-like garment worn mainly by women as fashionable outerwear
**Mantle (vesture), an Eastern Orthodox ve ...
was the driving force behind this process.
Early life and education
Harry Hammond Hess was born on May 24, 1906, in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
to Julian S. Hess, a member of the
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its liste ...
, and Elizabeth Engel Hess. He attended
Asbury Park High School in
Asbury Park, New Jersey. In 1923, he entered
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...
, where he intended to study
electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...
but ended up graduating with a
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...
degree in geology. He spent two years as an exploration geologist in
Northern Rhodesia. In 1934 he married Annette Burns.
Teaching career
Harry Hess taught for one year (1932–1933) at
Rutgers University
Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...
in
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...
and spent a year as a research associate at the
Geophysical Laboratory
The Carnegie Institution of Washington (the organization's legal name), known also for public purposes as the Carnegie Institution for Science (CIS), is an organization in the United States established to fund and perform scientific research. T ...
of
Washington, D. C., before joining the faculty of
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
in 1934. Hess remained at Princeton for the rest of his career and served as Geology Department Chairman from 1950 to 1966. He was a visiting professor at the
University of Cape Town
The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...
,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...
(1949–1950), and the
University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
(1965).
The Navy-Princeton gravity expedition to the West Indies in 1932
Hess accompanied
Dr. Felix Vening Meinesz of
Utrecht University
Utrecht University (UU; nl, Universiteit Utrecht, formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enrollme ...
on board the US Navy submarine
USS S-48 to assist with the second U.S. expedition to obtain gravity measurements at sea. The expedition used a
gravimeter, or gravity meter, designed by Meinesz.
The submarine traveled a route from
Guantanamo, Cuba, to
Key West, Florida
Key West ( es, Cayo Hueso) is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Sigsbee Park, Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Isla ...
, and return to Guantanamo through the
Bahamas
The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the a ...
and
Turks and Caicos region from 5 February through 25 March 1932. The description of operations and results of the expedition were published by the
U.S. Navy Hydrographic Office
The Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO), located at John C. Stennis Space Center in south Mississippi, comprises approximately 1,000 civilian, military and contract personnel responsible for providing oceanographic products and services to al ...
in ''The Navy-Princeton gravity expedition to the West Indies in 1932''.
Military and war career
Hess joined the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
during World War II, becoming
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
of the
USS ''Cape Johnson'', an attack transport ship equipped with a new technology:
sonar
Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect objects on o ...
. This command would later prove to be key in Hess's development of his theory of
sea floor spreading. Hess carefully tracked his travel routes to
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...
landings on the
Marianas
The Mariana Islands (; also the Marianas; in Chamorro: ''Manislan Mariånas'') are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, betw ...
,
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
, and
Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima (, also ), known in Japan as , is one of the Japanese Volcano Islands and lies south of the Bonin Islands. Together with other islands, they form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The highest point of Iwo Jima is Mount Suribachi at high.
...
, continuously using his ship's
echo sounder. This unplanned wartime scientific surveying enabled Hess to collect ocean floor profiles across the North
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...
, resulting in the discovery of flat-topped submarine volcanoes, which he termed
guyots, after the 19th-century geographer
Arnold Henry Guyot. After the war, he remained in the
Naval Reserve, rising to the rank of
rear admiral
Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star " admiral" rank. It is often rega ...
.
Scientific discoveries
In 1960, Hess made his single most important contribution, which is regarded as part of the major advance in geologic science of the 20th century. In a widely circulated report to the
Office of Naval Research, he advanced the theory, now generally accepted, that the Earth's crust moved laterally away from long, volcanically active
oceanic ridges
A mid-ocean ridge (MOR) is a seafloor mountain system formed by plate tectonics. It typically has a depth of about and rises about above the deepest portion of an ocean basin. This feature is where seafloor spreading takes place along a diverg ...
. He only understood his ocean floor profiles across the North Pacific Ocean after
Marie Tharp and
Bruce Heezen (1953,
Lamont Group) discovered the
Great Global Rift
A mid-ocean ridge (MOR) is a seafloor mountain system formed by plate tectonics. It typically has a depth of about and rises about above the deepest portion of an ocean basin. This feature is where seafloor spreading takes place along a diver ...
, running along the
Mid-Atlantic Ridge
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a mid-ocean ridge (a divergent or constructive plate boundary) located along the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, and part of the longest mountain range in the world. In the North Atlantic, the ridge separates the North A ...
. ''
Seafloor spreading'', as the process was later named, helped establish
Alfred Wegener's earlier (but generally dismissed at the time) concept of
continental drift as scientifically respectable. This triggered a revolution in the earth sciences. Hess's report was formally published in his
History of Ocean Basins' (1962), which for a time was the single most referenced work in solid-earth
geophysics
Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. The term ''geophysics'' so ...
. Hess was also involved in many other scientific endeavours, including the
Mohole
Project Mohole was an attempt in the early 1960s to drill through the Earth's crust to obtain samples of the Mohorovičić discontinuity, or Moho, the boundary between the Earth's crust and mantle. The project was intended to provide an eart ...
project (1957–1966), an investigation onto the feasibility and techniques of
deep sea drilling.
Accolades and affiliations
Hess was elected to the United States
National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nat ...
in 1952 and the
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
in 1960. He was president of
The Geological Society of America in 1963 and received their
Penrose Medal in 1966. In 1968, he was elected to the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...
.
Death
Hess died from a
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...
in
Woods Hole, Massachusetts, on August 25, 1969, while chairing a meeting of the Space Science Board of the
National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nat ...
. He was buried at
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...
and was posthumously awarded the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Distinguished Public Service Award.
The Harry H. Hess Medal
The
American Geophysical Union
The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of Earth, atmospheric, ocean, hydrologic, space, and planetary scientists and enthusiasts that according to their website includes 130,000 people (not members). AGU's ...
established the Harry H. Hess medal in his memory in 1984 to "honor outstanding achievements in research of the constitution and evolution of Earth and sister planets."
Past recipients
Source:
* 1985
Gerald J. Wasserburg
* 1987
Julian R. Goldsmith
* 1989
A.G.W. Cameron
* 1991
George W. Wetherill
George Wetherill (August 12, 1925 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – July 19, 2006 Washington, DC) was a physicist and geologist and the Director Emeritus of the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, DC, USA. ...
* 1993
Alfred E. Ringwood
* 1995
Edward Anders
Edward Anders (born June 21, 1926) is a Latvian-born American chemist and emeritus professor of chemistry at the University of Chicago. His major areas of research have included the origin and ages of meteorites, the existence of presolar grains ...
* 1996
Thomas J. Ahrens
* 1997
Stanley Robert Hart
* 1998
David J. Stevenson
* 1999
Ikuo Kushiro
* 2001
Albrecht Hofmann
* 2002
Gerald Schubert
* 2003
David L. Kohlstedt
* 2004
Adolphe Nicolas
* 2005
Sean C. Solomon
* 2006
Alexandra Navrotsky
Alexandra Navrotsky (born 20 June 1943 in New York City) is a physical chemist in the field of nanogeoscience. She is an elected member of the United States National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the American Philosophical Society (APS). She w ...
* 2007
Michael John O'Hara
* 2008
H. Jay Melosh
* 2009
Frank M. Richter
* 2010
David Walker
* 2011
Henry Dick
* 2012
Maria T. Zuber
* 2013
Bernard Wood
* 2014
Donald J. DePaolo
* 2015
Claude Jaupart
* 2016
Alexander Halliday
Sir Alexander Norman Halliday (born 11 August 1952) is a British geochemist, an academic who is the Founding Dean of the Columbia Climate School, and Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. He joined the Earth Institute in Ap ...
* 2017
Roberta Rudnick
Roberta L. Rudnick (born 1958) is an American earth scientist and professor of geology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2010 and was awarded the Dana Medal by the Mi ...
* 2018
Timothy L. Grove
* 2019
Richard J. Walker
* 2020
Donald B. Dingwell
Donald Bruce Dingwell (born 1958) is a Canadian geoscientist who is the director of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Ordinarius for Mineralogy and Petrology of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. He is also currentl ...
Selected publications
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**Also in:
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**Also in:
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References
Further reading
*
External links
Harry Hess (1906–1969) A Science Odyssey: People and Discoveriestaken from
AGU Harry H. Hess Medal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hess, Harry
American geophysicists
Asbury Park High School alumni
Tectonicists
Scientists from New York City
United States Navy rear admirals (upper half)
1906 births
1969 deaths
University of Cape Town academics
Yale University alumni
Burials at Arlington National Cemetery
Penrose Medal winners
Princeton University faculty
Rutgers University faculty
Presidents of the Geological Society of America
Marine geophysicists
Members of the American Philosophical Society