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Walter Clarkson Pitman, III is a geophysicist and a professor emeritus at Columbia University.
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Early life
Pitman was born in Newark, New Jersey on 21 October, 1931 [1]. He received a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering in 1956 from Lehigh University and went to work for Hazeltine Corporation from 1956 to 1960 [2].
Earth Science Career
After becoming interested in oceanography during his time at Hazeltine, Pitman left the company and went to Columbia to pursue a career in the sciences. He worked as a technician for the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory research fleet[3] for one year before returning to earn a Ph.D. in geophysics.
His thesis work led to the publication in Science in 1966 of "Magnetic Anomalies over the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge" with Jim Heirtzler, the paper that showed the symmetry of the magnetic anomalies of the famous Eltanin 19 profile along the Pacific-Antarctic Ridge. This paper confirmed the Morley-Vine-Matthews seafloor-spreading hypothesis and caused the unification of the geological world around the Theory of Plate Tectonics.
Since this time, Pitman has been at the forefront of several topics related to geology, geophysics, and plate tectonics. Recently, he published a much-discussed book with William Ryan, Noah's Flood, which claimed that the Black Sea had once been half its current size before being flooded when the connection to the Mediterranean Sea was formed. This flood destroyed an ancient civilization and fundamentally altered the region's ecosystem.
Publications
Ryan, William; Walter Pitman (1997). Noah's Flood: The New Scientific Discoveries About The Event That Changed History, Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0684859200.
Sources
"The Vetlesen Prize". Columbia University Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (2004-07-09). Retrieved on 2007-01-23.
"Pitman Receives Ewing Medal". American Geophysical Union (2005-09-22). Retrieved on 2007-01-23.
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Pitman, Walter Clarkson |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Walter Pitman |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Geophysicist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1931-10-21 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Newark, NJ |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
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- This page was last modified on 29 April 2008, at 20:19.
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