[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 20]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 28323]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO W. JASON MORGAN

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. RUSH D. HOLT

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, November 7, 2003

  Mr. HOLT. Mr. Speaker, this week, W. Jason Morgan was awarded the 
National Medal of Science Award at the White House for discoveries 
underlying modern studies of earthquakes and volcanoes.
  A geophysicist, W. Jason Morgan has been selected to receive the 
National Medal of Science--the nation's highest scientific honor--for 
theories that describe how land masses move, volcanoes arise and many 
other features of the land and sea take shape.
  W. Jason Morgan, the Knox Taylor Professor of Geography at Princeton 
University, is among eight scientists and engineers selected to receive 
the award.
  The award recognizes Morgan for his work in pioneering two 
fundamental ideas--plate tectonics and mantle plumes. The first 
describes how the Earth's surface consists of a dozen plates that move 
with respect to each other. This work provided a unified framework for 
understanding earthquakes and volcanoes as well as the formation of 
continents, mountains, ocean basins and other surface features. It also 
underlies nearly all current research into deposits of petroleum and 
other natural resources and the evolution of the Earth's climate and 
life.
  The theory of plate tectonics he published in 1968 is one of the 
major milestones of U.S. science in the 20th century, said Anthony 
Dahlen, chair of the Princeton Department of Geosciences.
  Essentially all of the research in solid-earth geophysical sciences 
in the past 30 to 35 years has been firmly grounded upon Jason Morgan's 
plate tectonic theory, Dahlen said. The scientific careers of a 
generation of geologists and geophysicists have been founded upon his 
landmark 1968 paper.
  The second area of Morgan's work cited in the award explains how heat 
within the Earth forces columns of solid, but ductile material through 
the Earth's mantle creating ``hot spots'' at the surface. This rising 
material, known as a mantle plume, causes ridges and volcanoes to form 
when oceanic plates pass above it. Morgan first reported his findings 
regarding mantle plumes in 1971 and has published extensively on the 
subject over the last three decades.
  I am thrilled to see Jason Morgan honored so appropriately, said 
Princeton University President Shirley M. Tilghman. He is not only a 
remarkable scientist, but a skilled and enthusiastic teacher. He has 
mentored generations of students, often taking them into the field to 
experience first-hand the power of science to explain the most basic 
workings of our planet.
  After receiving a bachelor's degree from the Georgia Institute of 
Technology, Morgan came to Princeton as a graduate student in physics 
and studied under Robert Dicke, a renowned mentor of many important 
20th-century physicists. Morgan received his Ph.D. in 1964 and joined 
the geosciences department the same year. In 1988, he was named to 
Princeton's Taylor professorship. He has received numerous awards, 
including the Japan Prize, the Maurice Ewing Medal, the Leon Lutaud 
Prize, the Alfred Wegener Medal and the Walter Bucher Award. He was 
elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1982. Morgan has 
announced he will retire in February 2004.
  I congratulate Mr. Morgan on his award, and I thank him for the 
contributions he has made to better our society.

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