George Wetherill

Who was George Wetherill?

George Wetherill was the Director Emeritus, Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, DC, USA.

George Wetherill benefited from the G.I. Bill to receive four degrees, the Ph. B., S.B., S.M., and Ph. D., in physics, all from the University of Chicago. He did his thesis research, on the spontaneous fission of uranium, as well as nuclear processes in nature, as an U.S. Atomic Energy Commission Predoctoral Fellow. Upon receiving his Ph. D., Wetherill became a staff member at Carnegie's Department of Terrestrial Magnetism in Washington, D.C. There, he joined an interdepartmental group of Carnegie scientists who were working to date the Earth's rocks by geochemical methods involving natural radioactive decay. This involved determining the concentration and isotopic composition of inert gases such as argon, as well as the isotopes of strontium and lead.