John Adams Bownocker was the Chair of the Ohio State Department of Geology and State Geologist of Ohio (1906-1928), preceded by Edward Orton Sr. and Edward Orton Jr. In his last will and testament Professor Bownocker established the Bownocker Endowment, providing funds to bring luminaries in theories of evolution, plate tectonics, and climate science to Ohio State. Thanks to Professor Bownocker's generosity, the School of Earth Sciences has hosted 77 visionary earth scientists since the series' inception in 1937.
stood as Ohio's primary geologic reference map for 86 years.
Interested in supporting the Bownocker Endowment (fund #600679)? Click here for more information.
Bownocker Lectures through the years
1937 Alfred C. Lane
1938 Walter H. Bucher
1939 Reginald A. Daly
1940 Charles K. Leith
1941 Arthur L. Day
1942 George F. Kay
1943 O. D. von Englen
1945 Max W. Ball
1946 George G. Simpson
1947 Chester R. Longwell
1948 Hugh D. Miser
1950 Harold C. Urey
1951 James Gilluly
1952 Sidney Paige
1953 M. M. Leighton
1954 F. A. Vening-Meinesz
1956 J Harlen Bretz
1957 J. L. Gillson
1958 F. J. Pettijohn
1959 Norman D. Newell
1960 Philip B. King
1961 Alfred S. Romer
1962 Charles H. Behre, Jr.
1963 John W. Wells
1964 J. Tuzo Wilson
1965 K. O. Emery
1966 F. H. T. Rhodes
1967 Richard Foster Flint
1968 Cesare Emiliani
1969 Allan V. Cox
1970 Valter Schytt
1971 Preston E. Cloud
1972 S. Keith Runcorn
1974 Peter J. Wyllie
1975 John Rodgers
1976 John F. Dewey
1977 Harold Masursky
1978 Robert F. Legget
1979 Harold Williams
1980 Ursula B. Marvin
1981 W. Gary Ernst
1982 J. William Schopf
1983 Robert L. Folk
1984 Kenneth J. Hsü
1985 Luna B. Leopold
1986 Anthony J. Naldrett
1987 Hans P. Eugster
1988 Digby J. McLaren
1989 Paul F. Hoffman
1990 Albert W. Bally
1991 Adolf Seilacher
1992 William R. Dickinson
1995 James D. Hays
1996 Harrison H. Schmidt
1997 Ian W.D. Dalziel
1998 Steven M. Stanley
1999 George M. Hornberger
2000 Wallace S. Broecker
2001 Robert A. Berner
2002 Lonnie G. Thompson
2003 Mary Lou Zoback
2004 Albert A. Gore Jr.
2005 Andrew H. Knoll
2006 Guust Nolet
2007 Noel P. James
2008 James E. Hansen
2009 Derek E.G. Briggs
2011 Roberta Rudnick
2012 James Head
2013 Louise Kellogg
2014 Susan Solomon
2015 Diane McKnight
2016 Lucy Jones
2017 Kathy Sullivan
2018 Kevin Trenberth
2019 John Grotzinger
2020 Naomi Oreskes
The School of Earth Sciences hosted Naomi Oreskes, Harvard Professor of History of Science and Earth Science, as the 77th annual Bownocker Distinguished Lecturer (and first ever virtual one!). Naomi is an author of “Merchants of Doubt”, which is a well-known book (also turned into a film) about scientific consensus and dissent in relation to climate change. Her 2004 essay "The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change" in the journal Science is widely cited, and she has done a TED talk on these topics. Naomi is a Precambrian geologist by training and has written a book on the theory of continental drift.
