Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPter 11
Phanerozoic Oxygen
I applied to five graduate schools in all, and four of them were in the
Northeast: Columbia University, Yale University, Woods Hole Ocean-
ographic Institute, and the University of Rhode Island. I figured I
could visit them all if I took about 10 days or so. So, I packed my VW
bus with a sleeping bag, a few things to eat and drink, and set out on a
road trip from my apartment in Oxford, Ohio. At Columbia, or more
precisely the Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory (now called
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory), I was scheduled to meet with the
eminent oceanographer Wally Broecker. Something, I can't quite re-
member what, took Wally out of town the day I arrived, but I had a
terrific day with his good colleague Tara Takahashi and whole range of
very impressive students and staff scientists. My next stop was Yale,
where I arranged to meet with Bob Berner. After arriving at Kline Geol-
ogy Labs, a soulless, windowless,
1
brick and concrete monstrosity de-
signed by a world famous architect (the late Philip Johnson), I was led
to Bob Berner's office. Here, a tall man in a blue turtleneck shirt and
a broad smile leaped from his desk and greeted me with a handshake.
Bob spent a great deal of time with me. He showed me the labs, took
me to lunch, and explained in detail all of the projects going on in the
lab. He introduced me to Rob Raiswell, a life changing experience (see
endnote 7,
chapter 9)
. He also explained that I had just missed Bob
Garrels, who visited Yale for three months every year. Bob Garrels (who
