9 Quaternary and Tertiary Records of Past Environments, Pacific Northwest I: In Honor of Calvin Heusser

Saturday, 5 May 2007
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM

ALASKAN GLACIERS TO TIERRA DEL FUEGO FOSSILS - A TRIBUTE TO CALVIN J. HEUSSER

Paper number: 9-2
Program: SYMPOSIA SESSIONS
Time: 8:05 AM – 8:25 AM

Authors

Abstract

Calvin J. Heusser, 1924-2006, devoted much of his life to palynological investigation of Quaternary environments. For five decades, his professional activity involved presentations of his research throughout the globe with over 150 publications, including four books. His pioneering research spanned the Pacific rim of both American continents for half a century. Beginning in the 1950's with eight field seasons in the Juneau Icefield Research Project, Cal documented nunatak flora and cored glaciers, trees and muskegs along the coastal North Pacific. A remarkable compendium of pollen profiles along the North Pacific rim from coastal Washington to Kodiak Island “Late Pleistocene Environments of North Pacific North America” was published in 1960. The following decade under the aegis of the American Geographical Society he initiated an exploration of the symmetry and asymmetry of temperate forests in the Americas through his research in the southern hemisphere. His sustained love of botany is evident in his 1971 landmark book of modern pollen and spore morphology for southern Chile.

In 1967 Cal accepted a professorship at New York University where he remained until his retirement as Professor Emeritus in 1991. His study of the Olympic Peninsula continued along with South American paleoecological reconstruction ranging from subtropical central Chile to Tierra del Fuego. Modern pollen data collected early in his career was used to quantify climatic parameters for western Washington, the southern Alaskan coastline, and southern Chile. He gathered together his South American research in “Ice Age southern Andes-a chronicle of paleoecological events.”

Cal's awards include both Guggenheim and Fulbright fellowships, election to a Fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge, and the American Geographic Society David Livingstone Centenary Medal in 1987. Those of us who were fortunate enough to share time with him remember his integrity, love of the field, and tireless dedication to his profession.