Reginald Aldworth Daly

Reginald Aldworth Daly
Born	March 18, 1871 Napanee, Ontario
Died	September 19, 1957 Cambridge, Massachusetts
Nationality	Canadian
Fields	geology
Institutions	Harvard University
Notable awards	Penrose Medal in 1935 Wollaston Medal in 1942 William Bowie Medal in 1946

Reginald Aldworth Daly (March 18, 1871 – September 19, 1957) was a Canadian geologist. He was a professor at Harvard University from 1912 until 1942, after working as a field geologist for the Canadian International Boundary Commission.

He examined the rocks along a 400 miles stretch at the 49th parallel, which led him to formulate a theory of the origins of igneous rocks, and published his seminal work Igneous Rocks and Their Origin in 1914. According to Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything," he was an early proponent of both Arthur Holmes' and Alfred Wegener' Continental drift theory and the impact theory of lunar creation. Continental drift was supported by evidence in Daly's book Our Mobile Earth, 1926. In "Strength and Structure of the Earth," 1940, Daly anticipated aspects of plate tectonics, including introduction of "mesospheric shell."

Daly was awarded the Penrose Medal in 1935, the Wollaston Medal in 1942 and the William Bowie Medal in 1946. The mineral dalyite and craters on Mars and the Moon are named in his honor, and his Cambridge house (the Reginald A. Daly House) is now a National Historic Landmark.

Bibliography

• Daly, R A (1940), "Strength and Structure of the Earth", Prentice-Hall, New York: 434, ISBN 978-0028435206 
• Daly, RA (1933), "The Depths of the Earth", Science (1933 Jan 27) 77 (1987): 95–102, Bibcode:1933Sci....77...95D, doi:10.1126/science.77.1987.95, PMID 17797838 
• Daly, RA (1931), "Gardiner on Coral Reefs", Science (1931 Dec 4) 74 (1927): 566–567, Bibcode:1931Sci....74..566D, doi:10.1126/science.74.1927.566, PMID 17807633 
• Daly, R A (1920), "A General Sinking of Sea-Level in Recent Time", Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. (1920 May) 6 (5): 246–50, Bibcode:1920PNAS....6..246D, doi:10.1073/pnas.6.5.246, PMC 1084496, PMID 16586806 
• Daly, R A (1917), "Low-Temperature Formation of Alkaline Feldspars in Limestones", Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. (1917 Nov) 3 (11): 659–65, Bibcode:1917PNAS....3..659D, doi:10.1073/pnas.3.11.659, PMC 1091350, PMID 16576265 
• Daly, R A (1916), "A New Test of the Subsidence Theory of Coral Reefs", Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. (1916 Dec) 2 (12): 664–70, Bibcode:1916PNAS....2..664D, doi:10.1073/pnas.2.12.664, PMC 1091132, PMID 16586654 
• Daly, RA (1901), "Notes on Oceanography", Science (1901 Jun 14) 13 (337): 951–954, Bibcode:1901Sci....13..951D, doi:10.1126/science.13.337.951, PMID 17733661 
• Daly, RA (1901), "Scientific Expedition to Iceland, Greenland and Labrador", Science (1901 Feb 1) 13 (318): 192, Bibcode:1901Sci....13R.192D, doi:10.1126/science.13.318.192, PMID 17816318 

Further reading

Mather, Kirtley (1970–80). "Daly, Reginald Aldworth". Dictionary of Scientific Biography 3. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 547–548. ISBN 0684101149. 

• Robert M. Hazen: Reginald Aldworth Daly (1871-1957). Daly′s Biography, American Geophysical Union
• James H. Natland: Reginald Aldworth Daly (1871–1957): Eclectic Theoretician of the Earth. GSA Today, vol. 16, no. 2, 2006
• Francis Birch: Reginald Aldworth Daly, 1871-1957, A Biographical Memoir National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC, 36 pp., 1960