Ira Shimmin Allison (16 March 1895 – 31 May 1990), 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, ...

best known for studying the US state of

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

's prehistoric lakes and waterways. Allison is the namesake for Lake Allison, because he was the first person to identify and correlate Willamette silt soil in 1953 with soils at the former lake bed of

Lake Lewis Lake Lewis was a large transient lake (lasting only days to weeks) in the Pacific Northwest region of North America, formed by periodic Missoula Floods along the Columbia River paleocourse between 21,000 and 16,000 years ago. Lake Lewis was for ...

in eastern

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

Personal life

Ira Allison was born on March 16, 1895, in

Gardner, Illinois Gardner is a village in Grundy County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,366 at the 2020 census. History Gardner is named for its founder, Henry C. Gardner. In 2023, Mike Serena was reelected as mayor of Gardner. Geography Accord ...

to John and Eva (né Shimmin) Allison, the fourth of seven siblings. His mother died when he was 13, and his father remarried to Margaret Elizabeth Phillips, with whom his father had three more children. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, from 1917 until 1919 Allison served as a

Sergeant Sergeant (Sgt) is a Military rank, rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage f ...

for the United States Army Medical Department. In 1921 he married his lifelong partner, Sadie Gilchrist in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, California. In 1928 he moved to Corvallis, Oregon, where he resided until his death. He died of natural causes at his home in

Corvallis, Oregon Corvallis ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Benton County, Oregon, Benton County in central western Oregon, United States. It is the principal city of the Corvallis, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Benton Co ...

at the age of 95. He was buried in his home state of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

Academia

Allison's started working at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

in 1920 as an assistant professor, teaching until 1928 and receiving a doctorate in Geology in 1924/5. In addition, he worked at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

as an instructor in 1922 and 1923. Allison worked at the

Oregon State College Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees through all 11 of the universit ...

from 1928 through 1965, and served as the chair of the Geology Department from 1950 until 1960. During this time he authored several different papers about the geological history of Oregon. In 1939, he performed a survey of

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

lakes in south-central Oregon with three students from OSC. Some of his other references to the prehistoric lakes of Oregon include a 1945 article published in

Geological Society of America Bulletin The ''Geological Society of America Bulletin'' (until 1960 called ''The Bulletin of the Geological Society of America'' and also commonly referred to as ''GSA Bulletin'') is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that has been published by the Geolog ...

. about Summer Lake, and a later correction to that paper in 1966 published in the same journal. He participated as part of the leadership of the 8th annual biology colloquium. After his retirement from OSC, he co-authored the 7th edition of

McGraw Hill Education McGraw Hill is an American education science company that provides educational content, software, and services for students and educators across various levels—from K-12 to higher education and professional settings. They produce textbooks, ...

's ''Geology: The Science of a Changing Earth'' with David F. Palmer, published in 1980.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allison, Ira S. 20th-century American geologists Oregon State University faculty 1895 births 1990 deaths