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With deep regret, we inform you that Tom Simkin, founder and director for many years of our volcano program, passed away on June 10, 2009, at the age of 75. A simple Quaker style memorial service in celebration of Tom’s life was held on Saturday, June 27, 2009 at 11:00 am at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington. A reception followed at the Simkin home. The Department of Mineral Sciences welcomed the museum community to a memorial program commemorating the life of Tom, and his contributions to science, in Baird Auditorium on Tuesday, September 8. Memories and condolences can be posted in the guestbook at CaringBridge. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to one of the following: - Checks for the Thoracic Surgery Oncology Research Program can be sent to Stephen C. Yang, M.D., Blalock 240, 600 N. Wolf St., Baltimore, MD 21287-5674 - Checks for Esophagus cancer research can be sent with a memo line of: "In memory of Tom Simkin" to Elizabeth Montgomery, M.D., The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Weinberg 2242, 401 N Broadway, Baltimore, MD 21231. |
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Tom Simkin's distinguished career in volcanology at the Smithsonian spanned more than four decades. He was a pioneer in the investigation of volcanism on a global scale, and was the founder and director of the Smithsonian's Global Volcanism Program (GVP) until 1995. The twin pillars of the GVP lay in both documenting current volcanic activity and unrest and in developing a database of volcanoes and their eruptions during the past 10,000 years. Tom's tireless devotion to detail and scientific accuracy led to the world-wide recognition of the Smithsonian as a primary resource for understanding the world's volcanoes and their eruptions. He was the first to note a logarithmic relationship between eruption magnitude and frequency and the correlation between eruption magnitude and intervals between eruptions, making the important point that the long-dormant volcanoes that escape the attention of those living in their shadow can produce some of the most violent eruptions. GVP data have widespread applications for research and hazards mitigation and include investigations into the seasonality of volcanic eruptions, links between volcanic eruptions and climate, and connections between global-scale earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. It has been a resource for national and international organizations dealing with volcanic hazards, such as the United Nations, the USGS, NOAA, NASA, and the U.S. Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, and has contributed to FAA response to volcanoes and aviation safety. Tom authored two editions of the globally utilized compilation Volcanoes of the World and was currently collaborating on a 3rd edition. Tom was also well known for his extensive field studies on Fernandina and other Galápagos Islands volcanoes and served on the Charles Darwin Foundation promoting science and conservation in this unique natural laboratory. Tom's contributions to volcanology continued in his emeritus status, following his retirement in 2003. In 2006 he published the 3rd edition of the This Dynamic Planet map in collaboration with scientists from the United State's Geological Survey (USGS) and the Naval Research Lab. The first two editions of this map plotting volcanoes, earthquakes, meteorite impact sites, and tectonic plate boundaries became the most-sold map of the USGS and have been widely used in K-12 through graduate school education and science. In 2004 Tom was the first recipient of the prestigious Krafft Medal awarded by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior (IAVCEI), honoring those who have shown altruism and dedication to the humanitarian and applied sides of volcanology and have made selfless contributions to the volcanological community. He was recently awarded the 2010 Jefferson Medal from the Virginia Museum of Natural History for his lifetime contributions to science, as exemplified by his establishment of the Global Volcanism Program. Tom leaves behind his wife of 43 years, Sharon, daughter Shona, son Adam, and two beloved grandchildren. |
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The following was published in the Washington Post on June 18. Tom Simkin Smithsonian Geologist, Volcanologist Tom Simkin, 75, a geologist who became a senior curator at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, died of esophageal cancer and sepsis June 10 at Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore. Dr. Simkin began his Smithsonian career in 1967 at its Oceanographic Sorting Center, where he was involved in the inventory and distribution of deep-sea rocks and other materials. From 1972 to 2003, he was curator of petrology and volcanology at the Natural History Museum. Petrology is the study of rocks, and volcanology is the study of volcanic phenomena. Since 2003, he had been a senior geologist and volcanologist in the museum's division of petrology and volcanology. Dr. Simkin, who edited and compiled several books about volcanoes, was lead author of "This Dynamic Planet," a world map of volcanoes, earthquakes, impact craters and plate tectonics. Thomas Edward Simkin was born in Auburn, N.Y., and grew up in Wallingford, Pa. He was a 1955 civil engineering graduate of Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. He received a master's degree in geological engineering from Princeton University in 1960 and a doctorate in geology from Princeton in 1965. He told The Washington Post in 1980 that he began his career as a civil engineer but became interested in geology "probably because I love climbing mountains." The article noted that, with his ponytail and beard, he resembled "a candle maker from Oregon" more than a scientist. He kept the ponytail over the years and, among colleagues, became known for his Birkenstocks and his habit of biking to work from his home in Arlington County. In 2004, the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior awarded him its first Krafft Medal for outstanding contributions to volcanology. He was also a recipient of an award from the Virginia Museum of Natural History for lifetime contributions to science. The honor cited his founding and directing of the Smithsonian's Global Volcanism Program, which inventories volcanoes and their activity. He was a former president of the Geological Society of Washington and a former member of Arlington County Parks and Recreation Commission. Survivors include his wife of 43 years, Sharon Russell Simkin of Arlington; two children, Shona Simkin of Cambridge, Mass., and Adam Simkin of Arlington; a brother; and two grandchildren. |
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