William Thomas Pecora - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Life and career

Willam Thomas Pecora was born on February 1, 1913, in Belleville, New Jersey

Belleville, New Jersey

Belleville is a Township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 35,926.-History:...

, son of Cono and Anna (Amabile) Pecora. Both parents were born in southern Italy, in the village of Sant'Arsenio

Sant'Arsenio

Sant'Arsenio is a town and comune in the Province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy, located about 180 km southeast of Naples and about 76 km southeast of Salerno...

. Pecora as the ninth of 10 children, four boys and six girls. His family was in the wholesale import business. In 1929, Pecora was awarded the Charles H. K. Halsey Scholarship that provided a $1,000 annual scholarship at Princeton University

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

, where he majored in geology

Geology

Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...

and geologic engineering

Engineering geology

Engineering geology is the application of the geologic sciences to engineering practice for the purpose of assuring that the geologic factors affecting the location, design, construction, operation and maintenance of engineering works are recognized and adequately provided for...

at Princeton, and was awarded a bachelors degree in 1933. After graduation, he stayed on at Princeton as a tutor in geology

Geology

.

In the summer of 1934, he was a field assistant to Erling Dorf

Erling Dorf

Erling Dorf was an American Geologist. He was born July 19, 1905 and died in April, 1984. He was hired in 1928 as a professor of Geology at Princeton University. He retired from Princeton in 1974. He was a renowned paleobotanist working on the floras of the Late Cretaceous and early Tertiary. He...

, working in Montana

Montana

Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...

on Paleozoic

Paleozoic

The Paleozoic era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic eon, spanning from roughly...

stratigraphy

Stratigraphy

Stratigraphy, a branch of geology, studies rock layers and layering . It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks....

. Pecora started graduate studies at Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

in 1935, concentrating on optical mineralogy

Optical mineralogy

Optical mineralogy is the study of minerals and rocks by measuring their optical properties. Most commonly, rock and mineral samples are prepared as thin sections or grain mounts for study in the laboratory with a petrographic microscope...

and petrography

Petrography

Petrography is a branch of petrology that focuses on detailed descriptions of rocks. Someone who studies petrography is called a petrographer. The mineral content and the textural relationships within the rock are described in detail. Petrographic descriptions start with the field notes at the...

. Pecora received a grant form the Holden Fund to finance fieldwork in 1937–1939 in the western fringe of the Bear Paw Mountains

Bear Paw Mountains

The Bear Paw Mountains are an insular-montane island range in North-Central Montana, USA, located approximately 10 miles south of Havre, Montana...

. His doctoral thesis was a petrologic study of the Boxelder laccolith

Laccolith

A laccolith is a sheet intrusion that has been injected between two layers of sedimentary rock. The pressure of the magma is high enough that the overlying strata are forced upward, giving the laccolith a dome or mushroom-like form with a generally planar base.Laccoliths tend to form at relatively...

. He received his Ph. D. from Harvard University

Harvard University

in 1940.

Pecora was the United States intercollegiate fencing champion in 1933 and went to Germany at the 1936 Summer Olympics

1936 Summer Olympics

The 1936 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was held in 1936 in Berlin, Germany. Berlin won the bid to host the Games over Barcelona, Spain on April 26, 1931, at the 29th IOC Session in Barcelona...

in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

as a member of the United States Olympic fencing team. He married Ethelwyn Elizabeth Carter from Franklin County, Kentucky

Franklin County, Kentucky

As of the census of 2000, there were 47,687 people, 19,907 households, and 12,840 families residing in the county. The population density was . There were 21,409 housing units at an average density of...

on April 7, 1947. They had two children, William Carter Pecora born in 1949 and Ann Stewart Pecora born in 1953.

In 1949, he started a large-scale geologic mapping program of eight fifteen-minute quadrangles in the Bearpaw Mountains. The first four of these maps was published in 1957 as Miscellaneous Geologic Investigation Maps and the other four were published in bulletins starting in 1960 and ending in 1963. In 1956, Pecora published a review paper on carbonatite

Carbonatite

Carbonatites are intrusive or extrusive igneous rocks defined by mineralogic composition consisting of greater than 50 percent carbonate minerals. Carbonatites may be confused with marble, and may require geochemical verification....

s which are carbonate

Carbonate

In chemistry, a carbonate is a salt of carbonic acid, characterized by the presence of the carbonate ion, . The name may also mean an ester of carbonic acid, an organic compound containing the carbonate group C2....

-silicate

Silicate

A silicate is a compound containing a silicon bearing anion. The great majority of silicates are oxides, but hexafluorosilicate and other anions are also included. This article focuses mainly on the Si-O anions. Silicates comprise the majority of the earth's crust, as well as the other...

rocks containing a variety of minerals, including impressive reserve of rare commodities such as titanium

Titanium

Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. It has a low density and is a strong, lustrous, corrosion-resistant transition metal with a silver color....

, zirconium

Zirconium

Zirconium is a chemical element with the symbol Zr and atomic number 40. The name of zirconium is taken from the mineral zircon. Its atomic mass is 91.224. It is a lustrous, grey-white, strong transition metal that resembles titanium...

, and uranium

Uranium

Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...

. In a 1962 paper, Pecora concentrated on the carbonatite deposits in the Bearpaw Mountains.

In 1957, Pecora was selected as Chief of the Branch of Geochemistry

Geochemistry

The field of geochemistry involves study of the chemical composition of the Earth and other planets, chemical processes and reactions that govern the composition of rocks, water, and soils, and the cycles of matter and energy that transport the Earth's chemical components in time and space, and...

and Petrology within the United States Geological Survey

United States Geological Survey

The United States Geological Survey is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization has four major science disciplines, concerning biology,...

. He established programs in geochronology

Geochronology

Geochronology is the science of determining the age of rocks, fossils, and sediments, within a certain degree of uncertainty inherent to the method used. A variety of dating methods are used by geologists to achieve this, and schemes of classification and terminology have been proposed...

, experimental petrology

Petrology

Petrology is the branch of geology that studies rocks, and the conditions in which rocks form....

, and mineralogy

Mineralogy

Mineralogy is the study of chemistry, crystal structure, and physical properties of minerals. Specific studies within mineralogy include the processes of mineral origin and formation, classification of minerals, their geographical distribution, as well as their utilization.-History:Early writing...

. In 1961, he returned to research. He was named Chief Geologist in 1964 and a year later was appointed Director of the United States Geological Survey

United States Geological Survey

by President Lyndon B. Johnson

Lyndon B. Johnson

Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...

. As Director, he pressed for programs that would be responsive to emerging national problems, such as investigations of gold resources and off-shore oil and gas exploration. He established the National Center of Earthquake Research in response to problems revealed by the 1964 Alaska earthquake. As Director, he advocated for the creation of a remote sensing satellite that would be used to gather information about the surface of the Earth, which became the Landsat program

Landsat program

The Landsat program is the longest running enterprise for acquisition of satellite imagery of Earth. On July 26, 1972 the Earth Resources Technology Satellite was launched. This was eventually renamed to Landsat. The most recent, Landsat 7, was launched on April 15, 1999. The instruments on the...

, the longest-running project for gathering images of Earth from space.

Pecora also addressed the discovery of large oil reserves of oil and gas on the north coast of Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

in 1968. Under his Direction, the U.S. Geological Survey made a careful study of the geologic aspects of the proposed pipeline route. From 1947 to 1967 he was a member of the United States Civil Service Commission

United States Civil Service Commission

The United States Civil Service Commission a three man commission was created by the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, which was passed into law on January 16, 1883...

's Board of Examiners for Geology, concerned with the development and maintenance of standards in the selection of geologists for federal employment. He was an active member of the Survey's Pick and Hammer shows, which were presented annually to make fun of top Survey managers. In 1970, Pecora expressed his opposition to burying the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System

Trans-Alaska Pipeline System

The Trans Alaska Pipeline System , includes the Trans Alaska Pipeline, 11 pump stations, several hundred miles of feeder pipelines, and the Valdez Marine Terminal. TAPS is one of the world's largest pipeline systems...

, as it would be unsafe to place an underground pipeline in Arctic land He was appointed to serve as Undersecretary of the United States Department of Interior by President Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon

Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...

on April 1, 1971.

He died at age 59 on July 19, 1972 at George Washington University Hospital

George Washington University Hospital

The George Washington University Hospital is a hospital in Washington, D.C. in the United States. It opened on On August 23, 2002, with 371 beds in a 400,000 sq. ft. building, housing than $45 million of medical equipment and cost more than $96 million to construct...

after having surgery for diverticulitis

Diverticulitis

Diverticulitis is a common digestive disease particularly found in the large intestine. Diverticulitis develops from diverticulosis, which involves the formation of pouches on the outside of the colon...

the previous month. A statement from President Nixon called him "a remarkable civil servant and an internationally respected figure in the scientific community".

The mineral pecoraite was named for him, as was the Pecora escarpment in Antarctica.

William T. Pecora Award

The William T. Pecora Award was established in 1974 to honor Pecora, and is sponsored jointly by the Department of the Interior and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA

NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...

). It is presented annually to individuals or groups that make outstanding contributions toward understanding the Earth by means of remote sensing

Remote sensing

Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon, without making physical contact with the object. In modern usage, the term generally refers to the use of aerial sensor technologies to detect and classify objects on Earth by means of propagated signals Remote sensing...

Awards and honors

1964 – President, Geological Society of Washington
Geological Society of Washington
The Geological Society of Washington is a learned society based in the Washington, D.C. area. According to its constitution, "The object of the Society is the increase and diffusion of geological knowledge"-Founding and early history:...
1965 – Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
1965 – Fellow, United States National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
1968 – President, Cosmos Club
Cosmos Club
The Cosmos Club is a private social club in Washington, D.C., founded by John Wesley Powell in 1878. In addition to Powell, original members included Clarence Edward Dutton, Henry Smith Pritchett, William Harkness, and John Shaw Billings. Among its stated goals is "The advancement of its members in...
1968 – Distinguished Service Award, Department of the Interior
1969 – Doctorate of Science, Franklin and Marshall College
1969 – Rockefeller Public Service Award
1970 – Doctorate of Engineering, Colorado School of Mines
Colorado School of Mines
The Colorado School of Mines is a small public teaching and research university devoted to engineering and applied science, with special expertise in the development and stewardship of the Earth's natural resources. Located in Golden, Colorado, CSM was ranked 29th, in America among national...
1972 – Public Service Award, American Association of Petroleum Geologists
American Association of Petroleum Geologists
The American Association of Petroleum Geologists is one of the world's largest professional geological societies with over 31,000 members as of 2007. The AAPG works to advance the science of geology , to promote technology, and to inspire high professional conduct...
1973 – a 6,000 foot ridge in the Bear Paw Mountains
Bear Paw Mountains
The Bear Paw Mountains are an insular-montane island range in North-Central Montana, USA, located approximately 10 miles south of Havre, Montana...

was named Pecora Ridge in honor of Pecora.
Fellow and Councilor, Geological Society of America
Geological Society of America
The Geological Society of America is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of the geosciences. The society was founded in New York in 1888 by Alexander Winchell, John J. Stevenson, Charles H. Hitchcock, John R. Proctor and Edward Orton and has been headquartered at 3300 Penrose...
Fellow and Councilor, Mineralogical Society of America
Mineralogical Society of America
The Mineralogical Society of America is a scientific membership organization. MSA was founded in 1919 for the advancement of mineralogy, crystallography, geochemistry, and petrology, and promotion of their uses in other sciences, industry, and the arts...
A Conference and Award are named in his honor.

Publications

Pecora, William T. “Structure and Petrology of the Boxelder laccolith, Bearpaw Mountains, Montana” Geological Society of America Bulletin, vol.52, no.6, pp. 817–853, Jun 1941
Pecora, William T. and S.W. Hobbs, “Nickel-gold deposit near Mount Vernon, Skagit County, Washington” US Geological Survey Bulletin No. 931-D, pp. 57–78 (1941)
Pecora, William T. and S.W. Hobbs, “Nickel deposit near Riddle, Douglas County, Oregon” ” US Geological Survey Bulletin No. 931-I, pp. 205–226 (1942)
Pecora, William Thomas “Nepheline-syenite pegmatites in the Bearpaw Mountains of Montana” American Mineralogist, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 191, Mar 1939
Pecora, William Thomas and Bernard Fisher, “Cenozoic geologic history of the Bearpaw Mountains, Montana” Geological Society of America Bulletin, vol.52, no.12, Part 2, pp. 1926–1927, Dec 1941
Pecora, William T, “Nickel-silicate and associated nickel- cobalt-manganese-oxide deposits near Sao Jose do Tocantins, Goiaz, Brazil” US Geological Survey Bulletin, No. 0935-E, pp. 247–305, 1944
Brown, Roland Wilbur and William Thomas Pecora, “Paleocene and Eocene strata in the Bearpaw Mountains, Montana” Science, vol.109, no.2837, pp. 487–489, May 1949
Pecora, William T; Barbosa, Aluizio Licinio de M; Klepper, M R, “Mica deposits in Minas Gerais, Brazil” US Geological Survey Bulletin, No. 0964-C, pp. 205–305, 1950
Bannerman, Harold MacColl; Pecora, William Thomas “Training geologists; a United States Geological Survey viewpoint” US Geological Survey Circular, No. 73, 6 pp., 1950
Lindberg, Marie Louise; Pecora, W T, “Tavorite and barbosalite; two new phosphate minerals from Minas Gerais, Brazil” Science, vol.119, no.3099, pp. 739, 1954
Lindberg, Marie Louise; Pecora, W T, “Avelinoite, a new hydrous sodium ferric phosphate mineral from Minas Gerais, Brazil” Science, vol.120, no.3130, pp. 1074–1075, 1954
Pecora, William Thomas, “Carbonatites; a review” Geological Society of America Bulletin, vol.67, no.11, pp. 1537–1555, Nov 1956
Pecora, William Thomas, “Coesite craters and space geology” Geotimes, vol.5, no.2, pp. 16–19, 1960
Schmidt, Robert George; Pecora, W T; Hearn, B C, Jr, “Geology of the Cleveland Quadrangle, Bearpaw Mountains, Blaine County, Montana” US Geological Survey Bulletin, No. 1141-P, pp. P1–P26, 1964
Pecora, William T, “Surveying the Earth's resources from space” Surveying and Mapping, vol.27, no.4, pp. 639–643, 1967
Pecora, William T, “Geologic applications of earth orbital satellites “ Contained in “Space exploration and applications; Vol. 1” from the United Nations Conference on The Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, Vienna, Austria, 1968. pp. 634–644. 1969

Other sources

Memorial of William Thomas Pecora February 1, 1913–July 19, 1972
Biographical Memoirs by National Academy of Sciences (U.S.) pp. 371–392 accessed in Google Books, January 9, 2009

External links

Portrait of William Thomas Pecora via the US Geological Survey
Photograph of William Thomas Pecora via the US Geological Survey

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