Samuel A. Bowring
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
September 27, 1953 - July 17, 2019
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Scientific Discipline: Geology Membership Type:
Member
(elected 2015)
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Sam Bowring was the Robert R. Schrock Professor of Geology in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Bowring used high-precision U-Pb geochronology to reconstruct the history of the Earth in deep time, from the formation of the planet’s earliest crust to the time scales of major biotic radiation and extinction events. He was known particularly for pushing the limits of geochronologic techniques to the highest analytical precision and accuracy ever achieved and for his exceptional talent as a field geologist. He was also highly regarded for his work on the origin and evolution of continental crust and the calibration of the geologic time scale. Bowring was born and grew up in Durham, New Hampshire. He graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a BS in Geology in 1976, from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology with an MS in 1980 and from University of Kansas with a PhD in Geology in 1985. He was an Assistant Professor at Washington University from 1984 to 1990. In 1991 he took up a faculty position at MIT.
