Dedication to Rhodes Fairbridge
(21st May 1914 to 8th November 2006)
A tribute to Rhodes W. Fairbridge in this Encyclopedia of
Modern Coral Reefs could not be more appropriate. He
was the founding editor of the Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series, launched in 1966 and continued as Series
Editor and for a number of volumes, as Editor-in-Chief,
until he passed away in 2006. The series consists of almost
30 volumes and reflects Rhodes’ holistic knowledge of the
earth, ocean and atmospheric sciences.
Although Rhodes spent his career at Columbia University in New York, he was born in Pinjarra, Western Australia. He graduated with degrees in geology from Queens
University, Canada and Oxford University U.K. before
receiving a DSc. from the University of Western Australia
in 1942. During the war he served in the Royal Australian
Air Force where, with friend and colleague Curt Teichert
he became interested in aerial photography of coral reefs,
initially from a military point of view but subsequently as
an aid to interpreting the surficial features of reefs, his first
study site being Low Isles on the Great Barrier Reef, the
location of the 1928-29 Royal Society Expedition led by
Sir Maurice Yonge.
From this time on Rhodes’ research interests, to 1955 at
the University of Western Australia, then at Columbia
University, New York were intimately related to the topics
around which this encyclopedia revolves. His interests in
coastal geomorphology and especially in past sea level
features were promoted by the spectacular calcarenite
coastline of south-western Australia. Features of climate
change are also prominent in arid climates, such as most
of Western Australia, and this too became a focus of
Rhodes’ interests.
It is not surprising that Rhodes took a very active interest in the newly developing techniques of radiometric dating. In particular they allowed for the quantification of
Quaternary events, particularly sea level change. He was
the first to put together a sea level curve for the Holocene
and, although developed from different locations and not
applicable to all sites, the Fairbridge sea level curve did
much to promote coastal studies. This was no more so than
at the 1969 Paris INQUA meeting where the gathering of
the Sea Level Commission and the associated field excursion around the Atlantic coast of France saw the emergence of numerous ideas which were developed over the
next few decades and applied to the many areas from
where the INQUA delegates had come.
Rhodes was a scientist with extremely wide vision with
a natural curiosity which saw him following up explanations across different fields of science. Sea level change
led him into oceanography and climate change which he
examined at a broad geological timescale. He was ahead
of his time in accepting the Milankovitch theory directing
his interests into the planetary sciences. When global climate change became a focus of discussion no-one was in
a better position than Rhodes to put some of the initial
ideas into a more reasonable context pointing out that
the earth’s climate has always been changing and that data
was needed to evaluate human contribution to global
warming. Again he was predicting the future direction of
research although his conclusion that “Whatever the present trend, the last word will always be political”, seems
especially prognostic!
The ideas of Rhodes Fairbridge permeate through this
encyclopedia which I believe is a most appropriate volume
to pay tribute to his contributions to science in general and
to the Earth Sciences Encyclopedia Series in particular.
I am especially honoured to be able to make this dedication as Rhodes, who always retained his Australian citizenship, had a strong influence on the early part of my
career. My honours and Masters theses were on the coast
of North Wales and reference to Rhodes’ sea level work
was inevitable and even more so for my 1970 PhD. on
the coast and islands of North Queensland. However, by
(21st May 1914 to 8th November 2006)
A tribute to Rhodes W. Fairbridge in this Encyclopedia of
Modern Coral Reefs could not be more appropriate. He
was the founding editor of the Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series, launched in 1966 and continued as Series
Editor and for a number of volumes, as Editor-in-Chief,
until he passed away in 2006. The series consists of almost
30 volumes and reflects Rhodes’ holistic knowledge of the
earth, ocean and atmospheric sciences.
Although Rhodes spent his career at Columbia University in New York, he was born in Pinjarra, Western Australia. He graduated with degrees in geology from Queens
University, Canada and Oxford University U.K. before
receiving a DSc. from the University of Western Australia
in 1942. During the war he served in the Royal Australian
Air Force where, with friend and colleague Curt Teichert
he became interested in aerial photography of coral reefs,
initially from a military point of view but subsequently as
an aid to interpreting the surficial features of reefs, his first
study site being Low Isles on the Great Barrier Reef, the
location of the 1928-29 Royal Society Expedition led by
Sir Maurice Yonge.
From this time on Rhodes’ research interests, to 1955 at
the University of Western Australia, then at Columbia
University, New York were intimately related to the topics
around which this encyclopedia revolves. His interests in
coastal geomorphology and especially in past sea level
features were promoted by the spectacular calcarenite
coastline of south-western Australia. Features of climate
change are also prominent in arid climates, such as most
of Western Australia, and this too became a focus of
Rhodes’ interests.
It is not surprising that Rhodes took a very active interest in the newly developing techniques of radiometric dating. In particular they allowed for the quantification of
Quaternary events, particularly sea level change. He was
the first to put together a sea level curve for the Holocene
and, although developed from different locations and not
applicable to all sites, the Fairbridge sea level curve did
much to promote coastal studies. This was no more so than
at the 1969 Paris INQUA meeting where the gathering of
the Sea Level Commission and the associated field excursion around the Atlantic coast of France saw the emergence of numerous ideas which were developed over the
next few decades and applied to the many areas from
where the INQUA delegates had come.
Rhodes was a scientist with extremely wide vision with
a natural curiosity which saw him following up explanations across different fields of science. Sea level change
led him into oceanography and climate change which he
examined at a broad geological timescale. He was ahead
of his time in accepting the Milankovitch theory directing
his interests into the planetary sciences. When global climate change became a focus of discussion no-one was in
a better position than Rhodes to put some of the initial
ideas into a more reasonable context pointing out that
the earth’s climate has always been changing and that data
was needed to evaluate human contribution to global
warming. Again he was predicting the future direction of
research although his conclusion that “Whatever the present trend, the last word will always be political”, seems
especially prognostic!
The ideas of Rhodes Fairbridge permeate through this
encyclopedia which I believe is a most appropriate volume
to pay tribute to his contributions to science in general and
to the Earth Sciences Encyclopedia Series in particular.
I am especially honoured to be able to make this dedication as Rhodes, who always retained his Australian citizenship, had a strong influence on the early part of my
career. My honours and Masters theses were on the coast
of North Wales and reference to Rhodes’ sea level work
was inevitable and even more so for my 1970 PhD. on
the coast and islands of North Queensland. However, by