Editing Bruce C. Heezen

{{Short description|American geologist (1924–1977)}}
{{Infobox scientist
|name              = Bruce Charles Heezen
|image             = Tharp & Heezen.jpg
|image_size        =
|caption           = [[Marie Tharp]] and Heezen
|birth_date        = {{birth date|1924|04|11}}
|birth_place       = [[Vinton, Iowa]], US
|death_date        = {{death date and age|1977|06|21|1924|04|11}}
|death_place       = 
|fields            = [[Geology]], [[Oceanography]]
|workplaces        = [[Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory]]
|alma_mater        = [[University of Iowa]] <br> [[Columbia University]]
|doctoral_advisor  =
|academic_advisors =
|doctoral_students =
|notable_students  =
|known_for         = [[Seabed|Seafloor]] [[topography]]
|author_abbrev_bot =
|author_abbrev_zoo =
|influences        =
|influenced        =
|awards            = [[Cullum Geographical Medal]] {{small|(1973)}}<br>[[Walter H. Bucher Medal]] {{small|(1977)}}
|religion          =
|signature         =  <!--(filename only)-->
|footnotes         =
}}

'''Bruce Charles Heezen''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|eɪ|z|ən}}; April 11, 1924 – June 21, 1977) was an American geologist.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Bruce C. Heezen|journal=Physics Today|date=November 1977|volume=30|issue=11|pages=77|url=http://www.physicstoday.org/resource/1/phtoad/v30/i11/p77_s2?bypassSSO=1|doi=10.1063/1.3037805|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928082746/http://www.physicstoday.org/resource/1/phtoad/v30/i11/p77_s2?bypassSSO=1|archive-date=2013-09-28|doi-access=free}}</ref> He worked with oceanographic cartographer [[Marie Tharp]] at [[Columbia University]] to map the [[Mid-Atlantic Ridge]] in the 1950s.

==Biography==
Heezen was born in [[Vinton, Iowa]]. An only child, he moved at age six with his parents to [[Muscatine, Iowa]], where he graduated from high school in 1942. He received his B.A. from the [[University of Iowa]] in 1947. He received his M.A. in 1952 and a Ph.D in 1957 from [[Columbia University]].
[[File:(Manuscript painting of Heezen-Tharp World ocean floor map by Berann).jpg|thumb|Painting of the Mid-Ocean Ridges by [[Heinrich C. Berann|Heinrich Berann]] (1977) based on the scientific profiles of Marie Tharp and Bruce Heezen]]
Heezen collaborated extensively with cartographer [[Marie Tharp]]. He interpreted their joint work on the Mid-Atlantic ridge and the [[East Pacific Rise]] as supporting [[S. Warren Carey]]'s [[Expanding Earth Theory]], developed in the 1950s,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Oreskes |first=Naomi |title=Plate Tectonics: An Insider's History Of The Modern Theory Of The Earth |date=2003 |publisher=Westview Press |isbn=0813341329 |page=23 |author-link=Naomi Oreskes}}</ref> but under Tharp's influence "eventually gave up the idea of an expanding earth for a form of continental drift in the mid-1960s." Tharp was Heezen's assistant while he was a graduate student and he gave her the task of drafting seafloor profiles.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|last=O'Connell|first=Suzanne|date=August 8, 2020|title=Marie Tharp's maps revolutionized our knowledge of the seafloor|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/marie-tharps-maps-revolutionized-our-knowledge-of-the-seafloor/2020/08/07/d9d112bc-d767-11ea-9c3b-dfc394c03988_story.html?hpid=hp_national1-8-12_oceanfloor-725pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory-ans}}</ref> When she showed Heezen that her plotting of the North Atlantic revealed a rift valley, Heezen initially dismissed it as "girl talk."<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Tharp|first=Marie|date=April 1, 1999|title=Connect the Dots: Mapping the Seafloor and Discovering the Mid-ocean Ridge|url=https://www.whoi.edu/news-insights/content/marie-tharp/|access-date=August 8, 2020|website=Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute}}</ref>  Eventually they discovered that not only was there a North Atlantic rift valley, but a mountain range with a central valley that spanned the earth.<ref name=":1" />  They also realized that the oceanic earthquakes they had been separately plotting fell within the rift, a revolutionary theory at the time.<ref name=":0" /> He presented this mid-ocean rift and earthquake theory as his own work at Princeton in 1957.<ref name=":1" /> At that lecture, preeminent geologist [[Harry Hammond Hess|Harry Hess]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Harry Hammond Hess |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/history/historians-miscellaneous-biographies/harry-hammond-hess |access-date=2020-08-09 |website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref> told Heezen, "Young man, you have shaken the foundations of geology!"<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />

Although Marie Tharp was later recognized and credited for her work on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, it was Heezen who, at the time in 1956, put out and received credit for the discovery that was made, leaving off Tharp's name.

Heezen died of a heart attack in 1977 while on a research cruise to study the Mid-Atlantic Ridge near [[Iceland]] aboard the [[NR-1 Deep Submergence Craft|NR-1 submarine]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.whoi.edu/sbl/liteSite.do?litesiteid=9092&articleId=13407 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070108024713/http://www.whoi.edu/sbl/liteSite.do?litesiteid=9092&articleId=13407 | url-status=dead | archive-date=2007-01-08 | title=Marie Tharp Bio | publisher=[[Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution]] | date=2006-12-12 | access-date=2008-06-02}}</ref>

==Honors and awards==
*1964: [[Bigelow Medal|Henry Bryant Bigelow Medal in Oceanography]] awarded by the [[Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=7695|title= Award recipients|publisher= Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution|access-date= 7 April 2017}}</ref>
*1973: [[Cullum Geographical Medal]] awarded by the [[American Geographical Society]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://americangeo.org/the-cullum-geographical-medal/|title=The Cullum Geographical Medal|publisher=American Geographical Society|access-date=7 April 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150909151056/http://americangeo.org/the-cullum-geographical-medal/|archive-date=9 September 2015}}</ref>
*1977: [[Walter H. Bucher Medal]] awarded by the [[American Geophysical Union]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Bruce Charles Heezen, December 1977, Walter H. Bucher Medal|website=American Geophysical Union (AGU)|url=https://www.agu.org/Search/PublicProfile?userId=554FC348-A76C-4A01-98B6-960D3F5C5225}}</ref>

The Oceanographic Survey Ship [[USNS Bruce C. Heezen (T-AGS 64)|USNS ''Bruce C. Heezen'']] was christened in honor of him in 1999.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/news/story7_1.html | title=Navy's Newest Ocean Survey Ship Will Offer Public Tours August 3 for Lamont Community August 4 & 5 at Intrepid Pier | publisher=[[The Earth Institute]] | date=2000-07-14 | access-date=2008-06-02 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081012013732/http://www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/news/story7_1.html | archive-date=2008-10-12 }}</ref>

Heezen Canyon is a large underwater canyon in the NW Atlantic, on the edge of the [[continental shelf]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Esri |last2=BOEM |last3=CSA |date=2022-05-10 |title=Large Submarine Canyons |url=https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/34a7a0932a444888821b850ed42d66c4 |access-date=2023-10-02 |website=ArcGIS StoryMaps |language=en-gb}}</ref>

[[Heezen Glacier]] in [[Antarctica]] was named after him in 1977.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Antarctica Detail|url=https://geonames.usgs.gov/apex/f?p=GNISPQ:5:::NO::P5_ANTAR_ID:6563|access-date=2020-08-09|website=geonames.usgs.gov}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{YouTube|fs0H2q4F6js|Bruce Heezen explaining formation of oil traps on the ocean floor}}
*{{YouTube|tQhJY7S7exw|Bruce Heezen explaining turbidity currents}}
*[https://www.loc.gov/item/2010586277/ Manuscript painting of Heezen-Tharp "World ocean floor" map by Berann] — Library of Congress Catalog

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heezen, Bruce C.}}
[[Category:1924 births]]
[[Category:1977 deaths]]
[[Category:University of Iowa alumni]]
[[Category:Columbia University alumni]]
[[Category:Columbia University faculty]]
[[Category:20th-century American geologists]]
[[Category:American oceanographers]]
[[Category:People from Vinton, Iowa]]
[[Category:People from Muscatine, Iowa]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Cullum Geographical Medal]]
[[Category:Tectonicists]]
[[Category:Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory people]]