Eugene L. Boudette (August 24, 1926 – November 10, 2007) 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, ...

and professor who served as the State Geologist of

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

between 1986 and 2000. Over the course of his life, Boudette also worked for the New England Division of the Army Corps of Engineers, the

United States 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 Mar ...

, NASA's Apollo Field Geology Investigation Team, and was a professor of geology at the

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire, United States. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant coll ...

. During his career, he authored or coauthored more than 80 geologic publications. Boudette Peaks in Antarctica were named after him by the

Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names The Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names (ACAN or US-ACAN) is an advisory committee of the United States Board on Geographic Names responsible for recommending commemorative names for features in Antarctica. History The committee was established ...

for his mapping of the range while in the US Geological Survey.

Early life

Eugene Boudette was born in

Claremont, New Hampshire Claremont is the only city in Sullivan County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 12,949 at the 2020 census. Claremont is a core city of the Lebanon–Claremont micropolitan area, a bi-state, four-county region in the upper Connec ...

, to William E. and Ida (Young) Boudette. He had five siblings, Norma, Thelma, Nathalie, William, and Earl, and they spent their childhood in Claremont and North Charlestown. Boudette graduated from Holden High School in Charlestown in 1944 and immediately entered the US Navy, serving until 1946. While in the Navy during World War II, Boudette trained and specialized in aircraft electronics at the

Naval Air Station A Naval Air Station (NAS) is a military air base, and consists of a permanent land-based operations locations for the military aviation division of the relevant branch of a navy (Naval aviation). These bases are typically populated by squadron ...

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

. He served in the Pacific theatre at Marpi Point Field on

Saipan Saipan () is the largest island and capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, an unincorporated Territories of the United States, territory of the United States in the western Pacific Ocean. According to 2020 estimates by the United States Cens ...

and spent some time at the

Quonset Point Air National Guard Station Quonset Point Air National Guard Station is the home base of the Rhode Island Air National Guard 143rd Airlift Wing. Naval Air Station (NAS) Quonset Point was a United States Naval Base in Quonset Point, Rhode Island that was deactivated in 1 ...

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

. He was awarded the World War II Pacific and American Theater service medals and the Victory Medal for his efforts. Following the war, Boudette used the

G.I. Bill The G.I. Bill, formally the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I. (military), G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in ...

to attend the University of New Hampshire, and graduated with a B.S. in geology in 1951.

Career

Army Corps of Engineers

Directly after graduating from UNH, Boudette joined with the New England Division of the US Army Corps of Engineers in a geological surveying role. His early work consisted of dam site evaluation for civilian needs, but he was quickly shifted into military projects, namely the construction of airfields and Army installations across

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

. His geological work helped in the expedited construction of the

Nike Missile Project Nike (Greek: Νίκη, "Victory") was a U.S. Army project proposed in May 1945 by Bell Laboratories, to develop a line-of-sight anti-aircraft missile system. The project delivered the United States' first operational anti-aircraft mi ...

Defense System of

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

and

Limestone Air Force Base Loring Air Force Base was a United States Air Force installation in northeastern Maine, near Limestone and Caribou in Aroostook County. It was one of the largest bases of the U.S. Air Force's Strategic Air Command during its existence, and was ...

in northern

Aroostook County, Maine Aroostook County ( ; ) is the northernmost County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Maine. It is located along the Canada–United States border. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 67,105. The county ...

. About a year into his stint with the Army Corps of Engineers, Boudette was sent to the northern

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

icecap for experimental work using ice drills. The army was looking into ways to build installation foundations on the ice, and Boudette's background in rock drilling for dam installations made him an ideal candidate for test drilling in the icecap. Though they encountered a multitude of problems with the drills not withstanding the polar conditions, Boudette and his team successfully tested the drilling procedures for a base that would later become

Camp Century Camp Century is an abandoned Arctic United States military scientific research base in Greenland, situated east-northeast of Pituffik Space Base. When built, Camp Century was publicized as a demonstration for affordable ice-cap military outposts ...

United States Geological Survey

After his tour in Greenland, Boudette returned to the United States, where he interviewed for and was extended a role in the

(USGS) in 1953. Between 1953 and 1956, Boudette worked with the Trace Element Program Cooperative (TEPCO) in

Grand Junction, Colorado Grand Junction is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality that is the county seat and largest city of Mesa County, Colorado, United States. Grand Junction's population was 65,560 at the 2020 United St ...

. Under TEPCO, Boudette assisted in locating and building the United States' reserves of weapons-grade

uranium Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Ura ...

in the continental United States. Beginning in 1957, Boudette pursued his master's degree at

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

, where he wrote his master's thesis on the thermodynamics of

plagioclase Plagioclase ( ) is a series of Silicate minerals#Tectosilicates, tectosilicate (framework silicate) minerals within the feldspar group. Rather than referring to a particular mineral with a specific chemical composition, plagioclase is a continu ...

. After he completed his master's, the USGS assigned Boudette to the

United States Antarctic Research Program The United States Antarctic Program (or USAP; formerly known as the United States Antarctic Research Program or USARP and the United States Antarctic Service or USAS) is an organization of the United States government which has a presence in the ...

. Boudette first traveled to Antarctica in 1959 to partake in the 1959-1960

Marie Byrd Land Marie Byrd Land (MBL) is an unclaimed region of Antarctica. With an area of , it is the largest unclaimed territory on Earth. It was named after the wife of American naval officer Richard E. Byrd, who explored the region in the early 20th centu ...

Traverse Party to study the geology and glaciology of the West Antarctic and to determine the feasibility of geological mapping of the area. The trip went from the

Byrd Station The Byrd Station is a former research station established by the United States during the International Geophysical Year by U.S. Navy Seabees during Operation Deep Freeze II in West Antarctica. It was a year-round base until 1972, and then se ...

to the

Weddell Sea The Weddell Sea is part of the Southern Ocean and contains the Weddell Gyre. Its land boundaries are defined by the bay formed from the coasts of Coats Land and the Antarctic Peninsula. The easternmost point is Cape Norvegia at Princess Martha C ...

to the Clark Mountains and back to Byrd. One of Boudette's major goals during the traverse was to locate two peaks that were inaccurately mapped by air. Boudette discovered the true location of the twin peaks in the

Executive Committee Range The Executive Committee Range () is a range consisting of five major volcanoes, which trends north-south for along the 126th meridian west, in Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica. Location The Executive Committee Range is south of the eastern end of ...

, and the mountain was named Boudette Peaks in his honor by the

. The success of the 1959–1960 Marie Byrd Land Traverse Party prompted the USGS to plan another traverse for the summer of 1960–1961 called the Victoria Land Traverse under Boudette's leadership. Unfortunately, the Antarctic summer of 1960–1961 was plagued by logistical problems,

sunspot Sunspots are temporary spots on the Sun's surface that are darker than the surrounding area. They are one of the most recognizable Solar phenomena and despite the fact that they are mostly visible in the solar photosphere they usually aff ...

s interrupting communications, and inclement weather, causing the Victoria Land Traverse to delay and ultimately miss its objectives. To further complicate matters, Boudette, while in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

awaiting a flight down to Antarctica, was subjected to a Navy medical review that found he had

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

. The disease disqualified him from all future field research projects in Antarctica, and he relinquished his duties to Art Ford, another USGS geologist. Boudette was awarded the

Antarctica Service Medal The Antarctica Service Medal (ASM) was established by the United States Congress on July 7, 1960, under Public Law 600 of the 86th Congress. The medal was intended as a military award to replace several commemorative awards which had been iss ...

by the Department of Defense for his contributions to the geological mapping of Antarctica.

Apollo Field Geology Investigation Team

Between 1961 and 1971, Eugene Boudette was mainly based out of

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, from where he did field work in

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

as well as worked as a USGS geologic map editor. In January 1971, Boudette was sent to the USGS office in

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 ...

, to participate in the Apollo Field Geology Investigation Team (AFGIT). In this role, he assisted in the mapping of potential landing sites for the Apollo Missions 15, 16, and 17 through the study of photogeologic mapping from previous missions. He also participated in field training missions with astronauts to simulate the lunar landing sites. Boudette travelled to

impact crater An impact crater is a depression (geology), depression in the surface of a solid astronomical body formed by the hypervelocity impact event, impact of a smaller object. In contrast to volcanic craters, which result from explosion or internal c ...

s on the

Canadian Shield The Canadian Shield ( ), also called the Laurentian Shield or the Laurentian Plateau, is a geologic shield, a large area of exposed Precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks. It forms the North American Craton (or Laurentia), th ...

and volcanic centers in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

, teaching astronauts about the geological similarities between the Earth and Moon and how to perform geologic sampling in a lunar environment. Boudette is cited as one of the major contributors to the geological mapping for the landing sites of the final three Apollo missions.

Retirement and later life

Eugene Boudette earned his Ph.D. in geology at Dartmouth in 1978. He continued working with the US Geological Survey until his retirement in 1986. After his retirement from government service, Boudette was appointed New Hampshire State Geologist and served until 2000. In his retirement years, he also took a position as a professor of geology at the University of New Hampshire. Boudette continued to research and write about various geological topics in New Hampshire late into his life. Eugene Boudette died at the age of 81 on November 10, 2007, at Concord Hospital in New Hampshire.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boudette, Eugene L 1926 births 2007 deaths 20th-century American geologists People from Claremont, New Hampshire