Allan V. Cox
Allan Verne Cox ( born December 17, 1926 in Santa Ana, † January 27, 1987 in Palo Alto, California ) was an American geophysicist whose work has made an important contribution to plate tectonics for the dating of reversals of the geomagnetic field.
Cox initially studied chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, studying but stopped to first go to the merchant navy, and made it his military service. After his return he studied geology at Berkeley and in 1959 at John Verhoogen ( 1912-1993 ), at that time one of the few supporters of plate tectonics, PhD. He then went to the United States Geological Survey in Menlo Park, where he met the geophysicist Richard Doell (1923-2008) and Brent Dalrymple (* 1937 for dating with the potassium - argon method an expert ) worked on rock magnetism and the three of them succeeded it set up the first timescale for reversals of the geomagnetic field. This enabled it to deliver later Frederick Vine and Drummond Hoyle Matthews conclusive evidence of plate tectonics on the trail of the extent of the seabed either side of the oceanic ridge.
In 1967, Cox Professor at Stanford University, where in 1979 he was dean of geosciences. He died in a bicycle accident, the circumstances gave rise to a suspicion of suicide. A few days later he would be accused of child abuse.
He was 1978-1980 president of the American Geophysical Union. In 1975, he received the Arthur L. Day Medal, 1969 John Adam Fleming Medal, 1984 Arthur L. Day Prize and in 1970 the Vetlesen price. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 1972 to 1974 he headed the section geomagnetism and paleomagnetism of the American Geophysical Union.
Writings
- With Doell, Dalrymple reversals of the earth 's magnetic field, Scientific American, Volume 216, 1967
- Geomagnetic reversals, Science, Volume 163, 1969, p 237
- Plate tectonics and geomagnetic reversals, Freeman, San Francisco 1973
- Robert Brian Hart Plate Tectonics: How It Works, Wiley -Blackwell 1986