Richard Foster Flint (March 1, 1902 - June 6, 1976) was an American geologist.

Biography

He was born in Chicago on March 1, 1902. Flint graduated from the University of Chicago and earned his Ph.D. in geology at the University of California graduating in 1925. He then joined Yale as a member of the faculty, becoming a full professor in 1945. Flint was recognized for his leadership role in

Quaternary period The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million years ...

geology with extensive work on effects of glaciations in northeastern America. He also performed research in Washington State to understand the last ice age’s impact on the Northwest, gaining some notoriety for his opposition to the

Missoula Floods The Missoula floods (also known as the Spokane floods or the Bretz floods or Bretz's floods) were cataclysmic glacial lake outburst floods that swept periodically across eastern Washington and down the Columbia River Gorge at the end of the las ...

hypothesis, which was posed by

J Harlen Bretz J Harlen Bretz (2 September 1882 – 3 February 1981) was an American geologist, best known for his research that led to the acceptance of the Missoula Floods and for his work on caves. Early life and education Bretz was born on 2 September 188 ...

. He presented a detailed and thoughtful argument against the possibility of catastrophic floods; a position which has subsequently fallen into disfavor based on a wide collection of evidence. He died on June 6, 1976, in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134 ...

Major publications include

*Outlines of Physical Geology, 1941 *Introduction to Geology, 1962 *Radiocarbon measurements, 1967 *Glacial Geology and the Pleistocene Epoch (Glacial and Pleistocene Geology), 1957 *Glacial and Quaternary Geology, 1971

Honors

*In 1972 he was awarded the Prestwich Medal, a medal awarded by the

Geological Society of London The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe with more than 12,000 Fellows. Fe ...

, for significant contributions in the science of Geology.Preswich Medal Awardees

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flint, Richard Foster 20th-century American geologists Quaternary geologists 1902 births 1976 deaths University of Chicago alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni