Prof. Dr. Gerald M. Friedman

NATIONAL TREASURER 1951-1955, PRESIDENT OKLAHOMA SECTION (NOW MID-CONTINENT SECTION) 1962-1963, PRESIDENT EASTERN SECTION 1983-1984

My address as president of the eastern section reviews my experience and contributions in NAGT.

“Reminiscences and Reflections of the Incoming President of the Eastern Section (1983)

“This is the thirty-third annual meeting of the Eastern Section of NAGT. This meeting here at Rensselaer brings to mind nostalgic memories of my participation at the first meeting of this section on April 20 and 21, 1951 at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. I vividly recall presenting a paper at that organizational meeting and was thrilled when the title of my paper was listed in Science and a reprint request arrived from California. As a charter member I enjoyed the experience of being involved in the organization of this section and recall with fond memories my return trip in the car of our sectional and later National President, Chilton (Chip) Prouty. Our second sectional meeting was held at Vassar College. The minutes of the meeting in volume 1 of the Journal of Geological Education (Lowe 1952) list my name as speaker, but I do not recall what I spoke on. At that meeting doughty Shepard W. Lowman (1899-1968) of Rensselaer was elected Vice President, and at the third meeting Roland F. Beers, Professor of Geophysics at Rensselaer spoke on “Amos Eaton,” pathfinder of North American stratigraphy and founder of Rensselaer, graduate of the class of 1921 who distinguished himself in geophysics and whose many achievements included service on committees of the National Academy of Science, as a college president, and a president and director of companies, like the Geotechnical Corporation, and his own well-known firm Roland F. Beers, Inc. Other speakers included James R. Dunn, Professor of Economic Geology at Rensselaer, and more recently President of the American Institute of Professional Geologists and recipient of the prestigious Van Couvering Award of the Institute.

“Although the meeting which we hosted at Rensselaer was the third rather than the first meeting of the Eastern Section, we can be proud to have sponsored the New England Section whose first annual meeting was on April 3 and 4, 1953. The first business meeting of the New England Section was held while the members of the Eastern Section addressed their own business meeting. Shepard W. Lowman (1899-1968) became the third president of the Eastern Section. Lowman by this time already had much of his distinguished career behind him. In my textbook “Principles of Sedimentology”, co-authored with John E. Sanders (1978) I reported on one of Lowman’s contributions (p. 19-20). Beginning in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s, the first large-scale Sedimentological research projects materialized. There had been large-scale research projects before, such as the boring of the Atoll of Funafuti in the Pacific Ocean at the close of the 19th century, but such early efforts were isolated. The 1947 report of the Research Committee of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, under the leadership of Shepard W. Lowman of Shell Oil Company and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, stated that research in Sedimentology is the most-urgent need in petroleum geology. Project 51 of the American Petroleum Institute led to a methodical and detailed study of modern depositional environments on a scale not previously attempted. With the aid of research vessels and research teams, modern marine and deltaic depositional environments were explored. Much of the background of this largest-of-all projects of the American Petroleum Institute was prepared by Lowman who first conceived the idea.

“No wonder Rensselaer developed a reputation in sedimentology and petroleum geology.

“Of the sectional meetings of the 1950s my next participation was on April 19 and 20, 1957 at Princeton University. By this time I had moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, and I recall a presentation to the Board of Directors of Stanolind Oil and Gas, now British Petroleum Corporation, on a problem of carbonate Sedimentology, and then catching a flight to attend our Eastern Section meeting. At this meeting Robert G. LaFleur of Rensselaer, who is field-trip leader at this meeting spoke on ‘Teaching Elementary Historical Geology at Colleges and Universities.’

”At an information meeting of the section on December 14, 1957 Joseph L. Rosenholtz (1899-1963) of Rensselaer ‘emphasized that oil companies are very much interested in getting Rensselaer geology majors even though they have had no graduate work’ (Prouty 1958). In 1960 Rosenholtz became the second Rensselaer president of our section. Since Rosenholtz died in 1963 let me quote from my article ‘Geology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: an American Epitome’ (Friedman 1981).

“ ‘In the 1920s and 1930s the field of Sedimentology was mostly concerned with provenance studies. A few species of heavy minerals are diagnostic of a particular kind of parent rock; mere identification suffices to determine provenance. When heavy minerals have been determined from a sample network of regional extent, the distribution of certain species may form a distinct areal pattern. In the subsurface heavy minerals have proved to be a valuable means for distinguishing one sandstone from another in single boreholes and in matching sandstones from one hole to another. Heavy-mineral studies of this type were the dominant line in Sedimentology of the 1920s and 1930s. This work closely depended on careful separations of suites of the heavy minerals. At the time heavy minerals were most commonly separated by means of heavy liquids. Yet better methods of separation were needed. Many advances in geology have taken place because some new tool or technique has been invented or improved. With it new analytical results could be obtained. Rosenholtz and (his collegue Dudley T.) Smith realized this. With their publications Tables and Charts of Specific Gravity and Hardness for Use in the Determination of Minerals (1931) and especially The Dielectric Constant of Minerals Powders (1936) they helped advance early Sedimentology. Dielectric separation of heavy minerals, as developed by Rosenholtz and Smith, became an important technique in provenance studies. W.H. Twenhofel, in his influential book Methods of Study of Sediments (1941) co-authored with S.A. Tyler, gives much credit to Rosenholtz and Smith (p. 25).

“As incoming president of this section I serve as the third holder of this office from Rensselaer, after Lowman and Rosenholtz, both of whom died many years ago. Perhaps I may even consider myself the fourth rather than the third NAGT sectional President from Rensselaer. My friend and PhD student from Rensselaer, Kenneth G. Johnson, now professor of Geology at Skidmore College, served as president of this section from 1976-1977.

“Now I would like to digress from sectional to national matters. The forerunner of NAGT, founded in 1938 in the middle west by a small group of geologists, expanded into a national organization on November 10, 1951, at the meeting in Detroit, of the Geological Society of America. There a National Constitution was drawn up and I became an officer of the first National Council. As Kurt E. Lowe, our first National President, expressed it ‘the first milestone had been reached,’ (Lowe 1952). My function was that of Treasurer and I recall today the first expended cash of NAGT came from my own pocket. I served as National Treasurer until the spring of 1955. The society records indicate my service only through 1954, but a change in calendar year extended my term. Preceding my second year in office (1952-1953) the Nominating Committee selected a double slate and I was put up against Chauncy D. Holmes of the University of Missouri and to my surprise was re-elected. When Freeman Foote of Williams College, Chairman of the Nominating Committee, asked me in 1954 to serve again I had to decline. A growing family forced me temporarily to abandon the academie in favor of the fleshpots of industry.

“The office of the Natinal Treasurer in the 1950s included handling subscriptions and distribution of the Journal of Geological Education, no mean task, which I accomplished with my wife’s help. Everything had to be done by hand and was slow and time-consuming. My sense of closeness with the other national officers, especially Ralph Digman and Kurt E. Lowe, made service on the association’s council a distinct pleasure. In 1953 when I was on the faculty of the University of Cincinnati Ralph Digman, then national NAGT Secretary, invited me for the winter vacation to Binghamton, New York, where he held a faculty position at Harper College. However, on December 20, 1953, prior to my visit, Digman passed away, which shocked those of us who held him dear. My appreciation of Kurt Lowe was expressed as his citationist when he received the Neil Miner Award at the NAGT meeting in Mexico City (Friedman 1968).

”A specific event as a national officer stands out in my mind for the year 1954. Before the annual convention of the Geological Society of America in Los Angeles I received a call from President Leland Horberg requesting me to take his place as NAGT representative at the meeting of the Board of Directors of the American Geological Institute. Horberg pleaded inability to come to Los Angeles, but was not specific why. On my return I discussed with him on the phone details of what had transpired at the meeting. Shortly thereafter I received news of Horberg’s death. This was to me a special loss; not only was Horberg my close colleague on the National Council, but I was his student at the University of Wyoming in the 1940s.

”As a member of the National Council I became involved in sectional matters. Maps of future sections had been drawn up which presented some difficulty. Until the founding of the Eastern Section the original association was an organization established in the mid-west. Establishment of the Eastern Section was encouraged by the parent group. When this occurred the original organization found itself automatically demoted to a sectional organization and took the name of Central Section. However, even its area was too large to be effective and the National Organization had drawn up a plan dividing the Central Section into West Central (still termed Central) and East Central. Such a further decimation of the original organization created some resentment. At the 12th annual meeting of the original Association of Geology Teachers, now Central Section, on April 18, 1952 at Kent State Teachers College, Kent, Ohio, in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Ohio Academy of Science I made my plea, as a speaker, for the establishment of the East Central Section. It was a traumatic experience and the next day, my dean at the University of Cincinnati called me on the carpet. Yet for the following year I organized the first annual meeting of the East Central Section which was held at my home university, the University of Cincinnati on April 10-11, 1953, and a new section had been born, the second section of which I had become a charter member. This first meeting proved to be a real success; we even appeared on television.

“While at Stanolind, now British Petroleum Corporation, I found that no NAGT section existed in Oklahoma, and it was time to do something about it. At a meeting of the Oklahoma Academy of Science in Norman in 1961 Edward C. Stoever, Jr. of the University of Oklahoma, later National President of NAGT, and I prevailed on prospective members to found a new section which held its first annual meeting on December 8, 1961 at the University of Tulsa. Organization of this section made me a charter member of a third NAGT section. Refreshing my memory of this meeting from the NAGT Transactions (Weakley 1963) I had a similar role there as I have at this meeting here at Rensselaer, (1) I became incoming Sectional President and (2) I served as field-trip leader ‘to examine Pennsylvanian sandstones and carbonate rocks of the Tulsa area, with emphasis on the environment of deposition.’ On October 19, 1963 the Oklahoma Section held an informal meeting. The NAGT minutes quote the sectional secretary (Weakley 1964) that after touring ‘the geological facilities of 2 outstanding reasearch labratories’ the group ‘adjourned to the residence of Gerald M. Friedman for coffee and cake and an informal get-together. Dr. Friedman showed kodachrome slides of Alaska and described his geological reconnaissance of the state by plane, helicopter, and on foot.’

“On December 7, 1963 the Oklahoma Section held its second annual meeting at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, in conjunction with that of the Oklahoma Academy of Science. I presided at that meeting, which was my last formal assignment as an officer of NAGT prior to this meeting here at Rensselaer.

“As I was also interested in the formation of other sections beyond those three of which I am charter member. I had hopes to attend the first annual meeting of other sections, especially that of Texas. Unfortunately such visits could not be arranged, but on December 8 and 9, 1961 I attended the third annual meeting of the Texas Academy of Science at Galveston, Texas. A highlight of this meeting was a fieldtrip to examine the effects of hurricane Carla, a devastating event. Slides taken on this field trip have travelled with me around the world illustrating the effects of episodic storm events along a shoreline.

“In my normal schedule I look forward to what is ahead. My incoming sectional presidency allows me to reflect and reminisce on the past, something I otherwise rarely take time for.”

On October 31, 2007 at the annual convention of the Geological Society of America in Denver, Colorado the officers of the NAGT asked me to serve as Editor of the Journal of Geoscience Education (formerly Journal of Geological Education). Circumstances prevented me from accepting.