[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 98 (Friday, July 11, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1409-E1410]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 IN RECOGNITION OF THE LIFE AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF DR. CHARLES L. DRAKE

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. CHARLES F. BASS

                            of new hampshire

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 11, 1997

  Mr. BASS. Mr. Speaker, as a 1974 graduate of Dartmouth College, it is 
with great sadness that I bring to the attention of the House the 
passing of Dr. Charles (Chuck) Drake on Tuesday, July 8, 1997. Let me 
convey my personal sympathies to his friends and family. Furthermore, I 
would like to submit to the Record the text of an obituary that 
appeared in the New York Times so that the American people can reflect 
upon the accomplishments of a great American and a true scholar.

                [From the New York Times, July 11, 1997]

            Charles L. Drake, 72, Dinosaur-Theory Combatant

                        (By Lawrence Van Gelder)

       Dr. Charles L. Drake, emeritus professor of earth science 
     at Dartmouth College and a leading advocate of the theory 
     that it was volcanic eruptions that killed off the dinosaurs, 
     died Tuesday at his home in Norwich, Vt. He was 72.
       The cause was a heart attack, said his wife, Martha.
       In a protracted, often rancorous debate, Drake stood 
     opposed to the school of thought that attributed the 
     disappearance of the dinosaurs to the impact of a large 
     meteorite 65 million years ago. In this theory, the meteorite 
     kicked up a worldwide pall of dust that blotted out the sun 
     and killed off many plants and animals.
       With Charles B. Officer, another Dartmouth geologist, Drake 
     theorized that instead it was huge volcanic eruptions, 
     spewing lava over 200,000 square miles of what is now India 
     and disrupting the atmosphere with chlorine, sulfur dioxide 
     and carbon dioxide, and that led to the end of the dinosaurs' 
     160-million-year reign on earth.
       But Drake's prominence in his profession rested on far more 
     than his role in the debate over the dinosaurs. His 
     leadership among geologists, marked by an ability to bring 
     together colleagues from various nations and disciplines, 
     brought him to high positions in scientific organizations.
       He served from 1990 to 1992 as a member of President George 
     Bush's Council of Advisers

[[Page E1410]]

     on Science and Technology and was also a fellow of the 
     American Association for the Advancement of Science; 
     president of the 18th International Geological Congress, held 
     in Washington in 1993; a president of the Geological Society 
     of America and of the American Geophysical Union, and a 
     member of committees of the National Academy of Sciences, the 
     National Research Council and the National Advisory Committee 
     on Oceans and Atmosphere.
       At both Columbia University and Dartmouth, Drake became 
     chairman of his department. While at Columbia, where he spent 
     16 years before joining the Dartmouth faculty in 1969, he 
     conducted pioneering research on the geologic evolution of 
     the continental margin of the Eastern United States.
       Since 1970, he had conducted research at the reservoir at 
     Lake Powell in Utah on the ecological effects of man's 
     efforts to impound the otherwise wild Colorado River and 
     manage water resources in an arid area.
       The dinosaur dispute between the volcano theorists and the 
     meteorite-impact theorists raged through the late 1970s and 
     the 1980s, with the meteorite side led by Nobel laureate 
     physicist Luis W. Alvarez; his son, Walter, a geologist, and 
     their colleagues at the University of California at Berkeley.
       Then, in 1994, a new theory combining the conflicting ideas 
     was proposed: antipodal volcanism. In this theory, a speeding 
     rock from outer space, exploding on impact with the force of 
     millions of hydrogen bombs, would have blasted enormous shock 
     waves through the earth. These shock waves would have 
     coalesced at the antipode, the side of the planet opposite 
     the impact crater, to fracture the ground, heat it and bring 
     on volcanic outpourings.
       In the new theory, then, both the meteorite and its 
     volcanic repercussions in the opposite hemisphere would have 
     contributed to the decline of the dinosaurs. But Drake never 
     embraced that notion, his colleague Officer said Wednesday.
       Charles Lum Drake was born on July 13, 1924, in Ridgewood, 
     N.J. He received a bachelor's degree in geologic engineering 
     from Princeton in 1948 and a doctorate in geology from 
     Columbia in 1958. He began his teaching career in 1953 as a 
     lecturer at Columbia, where he became a professor and, in 
     1967, chairman of the department of geology.
       In 1969, he went to Dartmouth as a professor of geology. 
     There he served at various times as chairman of the 
     department, dean of graduate studies and associate dean of 
     the faculty for sciences. He retied in 1994.
       He is survived by his wife of 46 years, the former Martha 
     Churchill; three daughters, Mary Layton, also of Norwich; 
     Pace Mehling of Corinth, Vt., and Susannah Culhane of 
     Manhattan; a brother, Thayer, of Avon, Conn., and four 
     grandchildren.

     

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