Hans Cloos (8 November 1885 – 26 September 1951) was a prominent
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
structural
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, althoug ...
.
Born in
Magdeburg, Germany
Magdeburg (; nds, label= Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river.
Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdeb ...
, Hans Cloos earned his
doctorate
A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...
at
Freiburg
Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...
in 1910, then worked in
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
and
Namibia
Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...
up until the start of
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. During the war his geological skills were put to use along the western front.
Following the war, he began a study of
plutons and their interior structure. In 1919 he became professor of geology at the
University of Breslau
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...
. His younger brother,
Ernst Cloos, who was born in 1898, would come to study geology at Breslau under his brother and later became a prominent geologist and professor at
Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...
.
In 1926 Cloos left Breslau to become professor of geology at the
University of Bonn
The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine ...
. He made additional geological trips to explore the
Scandinavian region,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, and
North America.
Professor Hans Cloos made pioneering studies of rock deformation, including
granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...
tectonics
Tectonics (; ) are the processes that control the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. These include the processes of mountain building, the growth and behavior of the strong, old cores of continents k ...
. He employed scaled
analogue models to study the physical mechanics of
faulting
In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...
, and examined how continents developed their structure. He was also noted for his artistic abilities, including music and draftsmanship.
Cloos died in
Bonn, Germany
The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr ...
in 1951.
The ''Hans Cloos'' medal
It is a senior award, which is presented by the
(IAEG) since 1977 to an engineering geologist of outstanding merit.
It is normally awarded every two years during an international congress of the IAEG.
According to the prize description, ''"the recipient should be a person of international repute who has made a major contribution to engineering geology in his/her written papers or to the development of engineering geology and/or the IAEG in their own area".''
Since 2002, upon receipt of the prize, the winner also delivers a lecture, named the ''Hans Cloos'' lecture.
Then, the winner is invited to submit a scientific paper based on the lecture for possible publication on the
Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment.
The winners of the ''Hans Cloos'' medal are listed below:
Honors
* The
wrinkle ridge Dorsum Cloos on the
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...
is named after him.
* In 2006, Cloos was featured in the book ''Bedrock: Writers on the Wonders of Geology'' edited by Lauret E. Savoy,
Eldridge M. Moores, and Judith E. Moores (
Trinity University Press) which looks at how writing pays a tribute to the Earth's geological features.
Bibliography
* ''Der Mechanismus tiefvulkanischer Vorgänge'', 1921.
* Memoirs: ''Gespräch mit der Erde'', 1947; translated into
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
as ''Conversations with the Earth'' by E.B. Garside, 1953.
References
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cloos, Hans
1885 births
1951 deaths
20th-century German geologists
University of Bonn faculty
Penrose Medal winners
Structural geologists
Tectonicists
Members of the German Academy of Sciences at Berlin
Scientists from Saxony-Anhalt
Members of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities