George Alexander Doumani (born April 26, 1929, deceased March 16, 2021 in Akko, British Mandate of Palestine) is a Lebanese Palestinian

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

and explorer. He joined Terra Sancta College in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

and awarded the Palestinian matric in 1948, during the

1948 Palestinian exodus In 1948 Estimates of the Palestinian Refugee flight of 1948, more than 700,000 Palestinians, Palestinian Arabs – about half of prewar Mandatory Palestine, Palestine's Arab population – Causes of the 1948 Palestinian exodus, were expelled ...

he left with his family to Bkassine village in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

. He went to

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

in 1949 and worked in oil field. He graduated from

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. He contributed to the

International Geophysical Year The International Geophysical Year (IGY; french: Année géophysique internationale) was an international scientific project that lasted from 1 July 1957 to 31 December 1958. It marked the end of a long period during the Cold War when scientific ...

in 1958 in

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

. He made other trips to the southern continent in the early 1960s. His findings helped prove the continental drift theory. Two Antarctic mountains are named after him: Mount Doumani and

Doumani Peak The Executive Committee Range is a mountain range consisting of five major volcanoes, which trends north-south for along the 126th meridian west, in Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica. The complete range was discovered by the United States Antarctic Ser ...

. In 1999 he published a book about Antarctica, ''The Frigid Mistress: Life and Exploration in Antarctica.''

References

Living people 1929 births Lebanese geologists Palestinian geologists University of California, Berkeley alumni {{geologist-stub