Biographical Memoirs Volume 66 (1995) / Chapter Skim
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J. Frank Schairer
J. Frank Schairer
Pages 288-321
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From page 288... ...
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From page 289... ...
To many colleagues the greater contribution was his simple and contagious philosophy of life that added zest and joy to all whose lives he touched. John Frank Schairer was born in Rochester, New York, on April 13, 1904.
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From page 290... ...
During his first year in high school the family moved from Rochester to a farm near the town of Greece, some 5 miles northwest of Rochester, because of his father's occupational health problem and economic straits resulting from a long strike. The new farm life demanded much of Frank's spare time, yet he maintained honor graces and was a member of the debating team.
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From page 291... ...
At the end of his freshman year in 1922 at the Sheffield Scientific School, Frank won the New York Yale Club prizes in chemistry IT and German I In his sophomore year he won the Samuel Lewis Penfield prize for excellence in mineralogy.
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From page 292... ...
fibers and especially for use in the straightening or cold waving of human hair. His sisters recall his returning home at the end of the summer with hands deeply stained chestnut brown!
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From page 293... ...
as laboratory assistant in the Sterling Chemical Laboratory and as president of the Chi chapter of Alpha Chi Sigma. His essay for the M.S.
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Schairer reported to work on September I, 1927. His thesis was written at the Geophysical Laboratory en c} his comprehensive examinations in organic and physical chemistry were mailed to the laboratory and administered by the director.
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From page 295... ...
, now the preferred method for studying silicate phase relations. Together they investigated leucite-diopside, which turned out to be a simple binary system (Bowen and Schairer, 19291.
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From page 296... ...
Obviously, the next system to do was FeO-SiO2, but the charges oxidized in air and attacked the platinum crucible and all ceramic containers. Bowen and Schairer solved this problem by using pure iron crucibles in an inert (oxygen-free nitrogen)
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From page 297... ...
The boundary curves within the tetrahedral models could thereby be laid out in two dimensions and the relationship of the various invariant points exhibited with clarity. The flow sheet concept has since been applied to the even more complex relationships of natural rocks that tend to concentrate at or near invariant points in multicomponent space.
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From page 298... ...
finally arrived at a solution to the kinetics problem. By a process of acclimation involving successively lower treatment temperatures of the liquid with intermediate crushings of the glass, he was able to produce the appropriate structure in the liquid so that crystallization took place promptly below the true melting point.
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From page 299... ...
. FRANK SCHAIRER EARLY AND LATE CRYSTALLIZING MINERALS 299 In 1935 Schairer and Bowen produced a preliminary phase diagram for NaAlSiO4-KAlSiO4-SiO~, which Bowen (1937)
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From page 300... ...
Techniques developed for the study of minerals and rocks uncler conditions believed to exist creep in the earth proved to be directly applicable to the study of reactions between powder gases and gun barrel metals. The Geophysical Laboratory devoted full time to the problem and specific tasks were assigned to the staff.
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From page 301... ...
Of the five major fields of interest outlined, the first identified was the study of fusion relations of minerals and of related equilibria. An essential part of the laboratory's proposed program was, therefore, to expand the past studies on the anhydrous combinations of the principal rock-forming oxides to complete the existing information on the compositions and mutual stability relations of the rock-forming minerals.
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From page 302... ...
(Brief accounts ant} the preliminary phase diagrams for those systems not described in detail wait be found in the Annual Reports of the Director of the Geophysical Laboratory.) In addition, work on the ferrous iron systems continued and some of the investigations incomplete at the beginning of the war were prepared for publication.
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From page 303... ...
It was possible thereby to represent a wide variety of both alkaline and tholeiitic basalts and determine their melting behavior and interrelationships. He now tackled the basalt system with incredible vigor, coming to work early and leaving late.
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, it was demonstrated that the simple, pure systems appropriately displayed the melting behavior of complex natural rocks. It was evident that a full understanding of the behavior of most igneous and metamorphic rocks would be achieved by the systematic study of the simple systems, including the various volatile constituents, rather than the haphazard study of selected rock varieties.
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From page 305... ...
ENDMEMBER MINERAL SYSTEMS Concurrent with the above~escribed petrological programs Schairer had a continuing interest in the detailed study of the major mineral groups. The phase relations of the olivines and the ternary feldspars have aireacly been mentioned.
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From page 306... ...
The sodium melilite endmember was stable only at high pressures, but the limits of solid solution determined by Schairer, Yoder, and Tilley (1965) at ~ atmosphere were close to those found in melilitebearing igneous rocks.
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From page 307... ...
THE STORY TELLER To keep abreast of the key problems of interest to geologists, Schairer traveled extensively in the United States and in Europe and Japan, particularly to visit field parties. For more than twenty summers he organized month-Ion" excursions to key outcrops mainly in the western states usually with several of the young Fellows from the Laboratory.
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From page 308... ...
And then another adequate topic of conversation was this proposed Shenandoah National Park, was that all nonsense or was it going through.
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From page 309... ...
And so we weren't carrying a two-quart fruit jar, but I had a pint thel~llos bottle filled with liquor in my pack. And I said, "Won't you have a drink of my liquor?
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From page 310... ...
" He said, "Each hollow has its own formula. There is only one make of liquor in Hazel Hollow, and this is.}ack's.
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The hour-Ion" discussion in the confessional about the best fishing spots in France was totally misinterpreted by the other parishioners waiting in line. THE ORGANIZER Shortly after arriving in Washington, Schairer joined the Wilc} Flower Society, but discovered they were a "bunch of piddling old ladies" who "took an hour to walk a mile." On November 22, 1927, he joined with friends holding similar views and formed the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club.
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From page 312... ...
During his professional career Schairer served as president of the Mineralogical Society of America (1943~; president of the Geochemical Society (19671; president of the Volcanology, Geochemistry and Petrology Section of the American Geophysical Union (1956-591; vice-president of the Geological Society of America ( 1944~; and vice-president of the International Association of Volcanology.
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From page 313... ...
. FRANK SCHAIRER 313 dition, he was elected to the Petrologist's Club on December 20, 1927, and served as its secretary-treasurer (the presicling officer)
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From page 314... ...
Twenty-five years have slipped by since Schairer's death; yet the personal memories are still vivid and the Schairer stories are frequently recalled by the Geophysical Laboratory staff. Schairer's phase diagrams remain the firm founclaiion on which igneous rocks are discussed today.
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From page 315... ...
The special help of Mrs. Ruth Schairer in providing the more personal details of their family life is greatly appreciated.
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From page 316... ...
John Frank Schairer, 13.4.1904-26.9.1970. Geologi.
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I Frank Schairer on the occasion of the fortieth anniversary of the founding of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club.
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From page 318... ...
Geol. and Natural History Survey 51:121.
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From page 319... ...
. FRANK SCHAIRER 1942 319 The system CaO-FeO-Al2O3-SiO2.
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From page 320... ...
Chemical and melting relations of some calcalkaline volcanic rocks.
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