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 ...

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

International Association for Engineering Geology and the Environment The International Association for Engineering Geology and the Environment (french: Association Internationale de Géologie de I'lngénieur et de l'Environnement), formerly International Association for Engineering Geology, also known as IAEG (fr ...

(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