David Holcomb Scott was an American

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

who worked for the

U.S. Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on March ...

's Center of

Astrogeology Planetary geology, alternatively known as astrogeology or exogeology, is a planetary science discipline concerned with the geology of celestial bodies such as planets and their moons, asteroids, comets, and meteorites. Although the geo- prefix t ...

Flagstaff, Arizona Flagstaff ( ), known locally as Flag, is the county seat of Coconino County, Arizona, in the southwestern United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 76,831. Flagstaff is the principal city of the Coconino Cou ...

. Scott was involved in the

Apollo Program The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program led by NASA, which Moon landing, landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969. Apollo followed Project Mercury that put the first Americans in sp ...

, and served as project chief for the

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

geologic mapping program, which was funded by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

's Planetology Program Office. He served as Discipline Scientist for the NASA

Planetary Geology Planetary geology, alternatively known as astrogeology or exogeology, is a planetary science discipline concerned with the geology of celestial bodies such as planets and their moons, asteroids, comets, and meteorites. Although the geo- prefix t ...

and Geophysics Program, and founded the Lunar Geosciences Working Group, which resulted in publication of ''Status and Future of Lunar Geoscience''. He continued to publish scientific articles on Mars through the 1990s. He authored more formal lunar and planetary geologic maps than anyone else in the Branch of Astrogeology. According to

Don Wilhelms Don Edward Wilhelms (born July 5, 1930) is a former United States Geological Survey geologist who contributed to geologic mapping of the Earth's moon and to the geologic training of the Apollo astronauts. He is the author of ''To a Rocky Moon: A ...

in his 1993 book ''To a Rocky Moon'':To A Rocky Moon
A Geologist's History of Lunar Exploration. Don E. Wilhelms, University of Arizona Press (1993). : he USGS Branch of Astrogeology wasable to consider hiring David Holcomb Scott, a former oil company chief geologist and chief of exploration.

cott Primo Water Corporation (formerly Cott Corporation) is an American-Canadian water company offering multi-gallon bottled water, water dispensers, self-service refill water machines, and water filtration appliances. The company is headquartered in ...

came up to me after a talk I gave in February 1966 at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

– which he missed – and said he wanted to do something new and interesting. He hurried through his Ph.D. and in a few years took on a mapping load that three ordinary geologists could not have upheld.

Publications

* *Scott, D. H., M. N. West, B. K. Lucchitta, and J. F. McCauley. 1971. Preliminary Geologic Results from Orbital Photography. ''Apollo 14 Preliminary Science Report'', NASA SP-272, Chapter 18 (Orbital Science Photography), Part B. *Scott, David H. 1972. Structural Aspects of

Imbrium Sculpture Mare Imbrium (Latin ''imbrium'', the "Sea of Showers" or "Sea of Rains") is a vast lava plain within the Imbrium Basin on the Moon and is one of the larger craters in the Solar System. The Imbrium Basin formed from the collision of a prot ...

. ''Apollo 16 Preliminary Science Report'', NASA SP-315, Chapter 29 (Photogeology), Part G. *Scott, David H., Michael H. Carr, and Baerbel K. Lucchitta. 1972. Geologic maps of the

Taurus–Littrow Taurus–Littrow is a Moon, lunar valley located on the Near side of the Moon, near side at the coordinates . It served as the landing site for the United States, American Apollo 17 mission in December 1972, the last crewed mission to the Moon ...

region of the Moon: Apollo 17 pre-mission maps. USGS Map 1-800. *Scott, David H. 1973.

Mare Serenitatis Mare Serenitatis (Latin ''serēnitātis'', the "Sea of Serenity") is a lunar mare located to the east of Mare Imbrium on the Moon. Its diameter is . Geology Mare Serenitatis is located within the Serenitatis basin, which is of the Nectarian ...

Cinder Cones and Terrestrial Analogs. ''Apollo 17 Preliminary Science Report'', NASA SP-330, Chapter 30 (Volcanic Studies), Part B. *Scott, David H. 1973. Small Structures of the Taurus–Littrow Region. ''Apollo 17 Preliminary Science Report'', NASA SP-330, Chapter 31 (Mare Ridges and Related Studies), Part D. *Scott, David H., John F. McCauley, and Mareta N. West. 1977
Geologic map of the west side of the Moon
USGS Map 1-1034. https://doi.org/10.3133/i1034 *Scott, David H., and Michael H. Carr. 1978
Geologic map of Mars
USGS IMAP 1083. https://doi.org/10.3133/i1083

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, David H. 1916 births 2000 deaths