Richard Lee Armstrong
Encyclopedia
Richard Lee “Dick” Armstrong (August 4, 1937 – August 9, 1991) was an American
/Canadian
scientist who was an expert in the fields of radiogenic isotope geochemistry
and geochronology
, geochemical
evolution of the earth, geology
of the American Cordillera
, and large-magnitude crustal extension
. He published over 170 scientific papers.
Armstrong was born in Seattle, Washington
.
to attend Yale University
. He obtained his BSc in 1959 and a PhD in 1964. He stayed at Yale as assistant and associate professor in the geology department until 1973. While he was a Yale professor, he took two leaves, the first in 1963-1964 on a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Berne
, and in 1968-1969 as a Morse and Guggenheim Fellow at the Australian National University
and California Institute of Technology
.
, Canada to be an associate professor at the University of British Columbia
. He was eventually made a full professor. In 1979, he became a Canadian citizen.
Armstrong studied the chronology
of magmatism, metamorphism
, and tectonics
of western North America. He utilized several methodologies, including Potassium
-Argon
, Rubidium
-Strontium
, Uranium
-Lead
and Neodymium
-Samarium
to obtain isotopic
data.
Armstrong’s early theories guided research for a generation. His views were controversial and contested by many prominent isotope geochemists. It took decades for other scientists to accept his ideas. Before he died, Armstrong was vindicated through the recognition he received for his model of crustal recycling at the 1990 ICOG meeting in Canberra
.
Most of Armstrong's effort was spent systematically building an enormous database on the American Cordillera. This database has provided a wealth of information to the scientific community.
Armstrong was an active member of the Geological Society of America
and editorial boards for several journals. He participated in the peer review process of the National Science Foundation
and Canada's Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council
. He also participated in Canada's Lithoprobe
program a national geoscience research project.
In 1991, Armstrong died of cancer.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
/Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
scientist who was an expert in the fields of radiogenic isotope geochemistry
Isotope geochemistry
Isotope geochemistry is an aspect of geology based upon study of the relative and absolute concentrations of the elements and their isotopes in the Earth. Variations in the abundance of these isotopes, typically measured with an isotope ratio mass spectrometer or an accelerator mass spectrometer,...
and 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...
, geochemical
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...
evolution of the earth, 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...
of the American Cordillera
American cordillera
The American Cordillera is a cordillera that consists of an essentially continuous sequence of mountain ranges that form the western "backbone" of North America, Central America, South America and Antarctica. From north to south, this sequence of overlapping and parallel ranges begins with the...
, and large-magnitude crustal extension
Rift
In geology, a rift or chasm is a place where the Earth's crust and lithosphere are being pulled apart and is an example of extensional tectonics....
. He published over 170 scientific papers.
Armstrong was born in Seattle, Washington
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
.
Education
In 1955, he moved to New Haven, ConnecticutNew Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
to attend Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
. He obtained his BSc in 1959 and a PhD in 1964. He stayed at Yale as assistant and associate professor in the geology department until 1973. While he was a Yale professor, he took two leaves, the first in 1963-1964 on a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Berne
University of Berne
The University of Bern is a university in the Swiss capital of Bern and was founded in 1834. It is regulated and financed by the Canton of Bern. It is a comprehensive university offering a broad choice of courses and programmes in eight faculties and some 160 institutes. The university is an...
, and in 1968-1969 as a Morse and Guggenheim Fellow at the Australian National University
Australian National University
The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...
and California Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
.
Career
In 1973, Armstrong moved to VancouverVancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, Canada to be an associate professor at the University of British Columbia
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
. He was eventually made a full professor. In 1979, he became a Canadian citizen.
Armstrong studied the chronology
Chronology
Chronology is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time, such as the use of a timeline or sequence of events. It is also "the determination of the actual temporal sequence of past events".Chronology is part of periodization...
of magmatism, metamorphism
Metamorphism
Metamorphism is the solid-state recrystallization of pre-existing rocks due to changes in physical and chemical conditions, primarily heat, pressure, and the introduction of chemically active fluids. Mineralogical, chemical and crystallographic changes can occur during this process...
, and tectonics
Tectonics
Tectonics is a field of study within geology concerned generally with the structures within the lithosphere of the Earth and particularly with the forces and movements that have operated in a region to create these structures.Tectonics is concerned with the orogenies and tectonic development of...
of western North America. He utilized several methodologies, including Potassium
Potassium
Potassium is the chemical element with the symbol K and atomic number 19. Elemental potassium is a soft silvery-white alkali metal that oxidizes rapidly in air and is very reactive with water, generating sufficient heat to ignite the hydrogen emitted in the reaction.Potassium and sodium are...
-Argon
Argon
Argon is a chemical element represented by the symbol Ar. Argon has atomic number 18 and is the third element in group 18 of the periodic table . Argon is the third most common gas in the Earth's atmosphere, at 0.93%, making it more common than carbon dioxide...
, Rubidium
Rubidium
Rubidium is a chemical element with the symbol Rb and atomic number 37. Rubidium is a soft, silvery-white metallic element of the alkali metal group. Its atomic mass is 85.4678. Elemental rubidium is highly reactive, with properties similar to those of other elements in group 1, such as very rapid...
-Strontium
Strontium
Strontium is a chemical element with the symbol Sr and the atomic number 38. An alkaline earth metal, strontium is a soft silver-white or yellowish metallic element that is highly reactive chemically. The metal turns yellow when exposed to air. It occurs naturally in the minerals celestine 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...
-Lead
Lead
Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
and Neodymium
Neodymium
Neodymium is a chemical element with the symbol Nd and atomic number 60. It is a soft silvery metal that tarnishes in air. Neodymium was discovered in 1885 by the Austrian chemist Carl Auer von Welsbach. It is present in significant quantities in the ore minerals monazite and bastnäsite...
-Samarium
Samarium
Samarium is a chemical element with the symbol Sm, atomic number 62 and atomic weight 150.36. It is a moderately hard silvery metal which readily oxidizes in air. Being a typical member of the lanthanide series, samarium usually assumes the oxidation state +3...
to obtain isotopic
Isotopic
The word isotopic has a number of different meanings, including:* In the physical sciences, to do with chemical isotopes;* In mathematics, to do with a relation called isotopy.* In geometry, isotopic refers to facet-transitivity....
data.
Armstrong’s early theories guided research for a generation. His views were controversial and contested by many prominent isotope geochemists. It took decades for other scientists to accept his ideas. Before he died, Armstrong was vindicated through the recognition he received for his model of crustal recycling at the 1990 ICOG meeting in Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
.
Most of Armstrong's effort was spent systematically building an enormous database on the American Cordillera. This database has provided a wealth of information to the scientific community.
Armstrong was an active member of the 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...
and editorial boards for several journals. He participated in the peer review process of the National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
and Canada's Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council
The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada is a Canadian government agency that provides grants for research in the natural sciences and in engineering. Its mandate is to promote and assist research....
. He also participated in Canada's Lithoprobe
Lithoprobe
Lithoprobe is a Canadian national geoscience research project funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council. Its aim is to research and map the lithosphere structure and composition. Lithoprobe derives from "probing the lithosphere"....
program a national geoscience research project.
In 1991, Armstrong died of cancer.
Accolades
- 1981, made a fellow of the Royal Society of CanadaRoyal Society of CanadaThe Royal Society of Canada , may also operate under the more descriptive name RSC: The Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada , is the oldest association of scientists and scholars in Canada...
- 1986, awarded a Killam Prize by the University of British Columbia
- 1990, awarded the Logan MedalLogan MedalThe Logan Medal is the highest award of the Geological Association of Canada. Named after Sir William Edmond Logan, noted 19th century Canadian geologist. It is presented annually to an individual for sustained distinguished achievement in Canadian earth science.-References:*...
by the Geological Association of CanadaGeological Association of CanadaThe Geological Association of Canada promotes and develops the geological sciences in Canada. The organization holds conferences, meetings and exhibitions for the discussion of geological problems and the exchange of views in matters related to geology... - post humus, the Richard Lee Armstrong Endowment Fund, an endowed scholarship, was established at the Department of Earth Sciences, University of British Columbia
- post humus, a new radiogenic isotope laboratory was dedicated to his memory by the University of British Columbia
Often cited papers
- Armstrong, R.L.. 1966. K-ar dating of plutonic and volcanic rocks in orogenic belts: Age determination by potassium argon: Heidelberg, Springer-Verlag, p. 117-133.
- Armstrong, R.L.. 1968. A model for Pb and Sr isotope evolution in a dynamic earth: Reviews of Geophysics, v. 6, p. 175-199.
- Armstrong, R.L.. 1972. Low-angle faults, hinterland of the Sevier orogenic belt, eastern Nevada and western Utah: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 83, p. 1729-1754.
- Armstrong, R.L.. 1981. Radiogenic isotopes; The case for crustal recycling on a near-steady-state no-continental-growth Earth: Royal Society of London Philosophical Transactions, v. 301, p. 443-472.
- Armstrong, R.L, Parrish, R.. 1990. A geologic excursion across the Canadian Cordillera near 49°N (Highways 1 and 3 from Vancouver to southwestern Alberta and on to Calgary, Alberta): Geological Association of Canada Meeting, Vancouver, May, Field Trip Guidebook, 71 p.
- Harland, W.B.; Armstrong, R.L.; Cox, A.V.; Craig, L.E.; Smith, A.G.; Smith, D.G., 1990. A Geologic Time Scale, 1989 edition. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, p.1-263. ISBN 0-521-38765-5