Williams Professor Publishes Biography of Prolific Geologist
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — On a trip to the Williams College archives, geology professor Reinhard A. Wobus discovered an interesting and unpublished manuscript in the box he had delivered. It was the autobiography of T. Nelson Dale, a geologist who taught at the college from 1893 to 1901, and who was the father of Margaret ("Peggy") Dale, a resident of Williamstown for most of her 105 years and a close friend of the Wobus family.Dale intended the book to be released posthumously, but nearly a century had passed since his death. Thanks to Wobus' transcription and editing, Dale's autobiography, "The Outcomes of the Life of a Geologist," has been published by the Connecticut Academy of Arts & Sciences.
Chartered in 1799, the Connecticut Academy of Arts & Sciences is the third-oldest learned society in the country. Among its published memoirs include several biographies and autobiographies of prominent New England geologists.
Dale had little formal education, but an incredible amount of field experience, most notably analyzing and mapping areas for the U.S. Geological Survey. He spent four decades analyzing and mapping the structure of an enormous piece of ground, "walking and riding on terrible roads, trails, and pasture paths to produce handcrafted geological reports and maps."
He believed that the question as to which of two persons will accomplish most, one with a regular education and the other with an irregular education depends primarily upon which of the two realizes what he is in this world for. Dale, who shows himself as tenacious and stubborn, curious and determined is notable for his attempts at reconciling religion and science.
Wobus is the Edna McConnell Clark Professor of Geology. His academic interests include the most ancient rocks of the southern Rocky Mountains of Colorado and New Mexico, where he has spent many summers on field projects with his students. For 18 years he was a member of a geological mapping team assembled by the U.S. Geological Survey to do research in preparation for the new edition of the state geological map of Colorado.
In the 1980s, Wobus was the motive force in the founding of the Keck Geology Consortium, a group of 18 colleges that participate in research projects and symposia.
He received his B.A. from Washington University in 1962, his M.A. from Harvard University in 1963, and his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1966.
