Geoscience Reference
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Columbia University in the City of New York and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.
Bullard remembers that just before the start of a 1959 conference, “Ewing came
up to me, looking, I thought, a little worried, and said: 'You don't believe all this
rubbish do you?' I admitted that I did, and I fancy that the following two days of
systematic exposition, largely by his own students, convinced him (he did not con-
tribute to the published proceedings of the meeting).”
3
Le Pichon, who had worked at Lamont and was in close contact with Ewing, did
not believe that the Lamont director ever became “convinced” of seafloor spread-
ing, continental drift, and plate tectonics: “I believe that right up to the time of
his death in 1974, [Ewing] still did not accept that plate tectonics had succeeded
in revealing the secrets of 'his' ocean. In 1970, he confided to me that each time
his ship came back, he was waiting for the new evidence that would show that the
whole plate tectonic model was wrong: the ocean could not be that simple.”
4
Frankel sums up Ewing's legacy:
There was an element of tragedy about Ewing's later life. If only he had been able to embrace
seafloor spreading, rejoice in the fact that Lamont, which he had created in his own image,
had supplied much of the crucial data, and graciously stepped down as director, he could have
enjoyed his many successes, celebrated the successes of his younger colleagues, and warmly
accepted their appreciative comments.
5
Bullard delivered an apt epitaph. “The last time I met him,” he writes, “I asked
lasting credit, Ewing did keep his ships at sea, establishing facts which any theory
would have to explain. He may have hoped that the data his vessels returned would
refute plate tectonics, but he was willing to take the chance that they would not.
One Who Still Doubts
