35 Facts About Harmon Craig

Harmon Craig was an American geochemist who worked briefly for the University of Chicago before spending the majority of his career at Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Harmon Craig is credited with establishing the field of carbon isotope geochemistry by characterizing carbon's stable isotopic signatures in various natural materials.

Harmon Craig's work laid the foundation for isotopic studies of the carbon cycle, and was fundamental to understanding carbon sequestering in the oceanic and the terrestrial biosphere and the modulation of global warming.

Harmon Craig was born March 15,1926 in Manhattan, in New York City, to John Richard Craig, Jr.

Harmon Craig was named after his uncle, Harmon Bushnell Craig, but does not use his middle name.

Harmon Bushnell Craig died serving with an ambulatory corps run by the American Field Service, and was posthumously awarded the French Croix de Guerre.

Harmon Craig's mother's involvement with the Quakers was a strong influence on Harmon Craig.

Harmon Craig studied geology and chemistry at the University of Chicago.

Harmon Craig created his thesis to find the measurement of ancient sea temperature.

Harmon Craig used the carbon dioxide released from calcium carbonate fossils as a basis for future researches involving the carbon system.

Harmon Craig's theory has been applied to applications as varied as determining food chains and the identifying the sources of stone for ancient statues.

Harmon Craig joined the Enrico Fermi Institute at the University of Chicago as a research associate in 1951.

In 1953, Urey and Harmon Craig published results showing that chondrites, meteors from the Solar System, did not have a single fixed composition, as had been assumed.

In 1955 Harmon Craig was recruited to Scripps Institution of Oceanography by Roger Revelle.

Harmon Craig produced fundamental findings about how the deep earth, oceans and atmosphere work.

In 1961, Harmon Craig identified the global meteoric water line, a linear relationship describing the occurrence of hydrogen and oxygen isotopes in terrestrial waters.

Harmon Craig established the oxygen isotope shift in geothermal and volcanic fluids, demonstrating that the water is meteoric.

Harmon Craig's discovery outlined the relation between rocks and water in geothermal systems.

In 1963, Harmon Craig received a Guggenheim Fellowship, using it to spend a year at the Istituto de Geologia Nucleare, Pisa, Italy.

Harmon Craig described a framework for studying the isotopic composition of the hydrosphere, discussing kinetics, equilibrium, and the use of isotopes for paleoenvironmental reconstructions.

Harmon Craig concluded that the isotope was present within the Earth's mantle and theorized that it was leaking into sea water through cracks in the sea floor.

Harmon Craig determined by measuring that the element, Pb is rapidly scavenged by sinking particulate matter.

Harmon Craig discovered submarine hydrothermal vents by measuring helium 3 and radon emitted from seafloor spreading centers.

Harmon Craig made 17 dives to the bottom of the ocean in the ALVIN submersible, including the first descent into the Mariana Trough.

Harmon Craig proved that there was excess He instead of He, affecting the understanding for ocean circulation and seafloor spreading.

Harmon Craig led 28 oceanographic expeditions and traveled to the East African Rift Valley, The Dead Sea, Tibet, Yunnan and many other places to sample volcanic rocks and gases.

Harmon Craig visited all the major volcanic island chains of the Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean to collect lava samples.

Harmon Craig identified 16 mantle hotspots where volcanic plumes rise from the Earth's outer core through the deep mantle by measuring their helium 3 to helium 4 ratio, identifying the higher helium 3 content present in the hotspots as primordial helium, trapped in the Earth's core when it was first formed.

Harmon Craig was one of the earliest people to analyze the gases trapped in the glacier ice.

Harmon Craig reported that the methane in the atmosphere had increased twice due to human day-to-day activities in the last 300 years.

Harmon Craig was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1979.

Harmon Craig shared the Vetlesen Prize with Wallace S Broecker in 1987.

Harmon Craig received an honorary degree from the University of Paris.

Harmon Craig died at Thornton Hospital in La Jolla, California on 14 March 2003 from a massive heart attack a day before his seventy-seventh birthday.

Harmon Craig's drive for scientific achievement was unparalleled in my experience.