JELLE ZEILINGA DE BOER

JELLE ZEILINGA de BOER, the Harold T. Stearns Professor of Earth Science, emeritus, died July 23, 2016. He was 81. After receiving his B.S. and PhD from the University of Utrecht, he came to Wesleyan as a postdoctoral fellow in 1963. During his early years at Wesleyan he worked closely with Geology Professor Jim Balsley in the field of paleomagnetism. In 1977 he was named the George I. Seney Professor of Geology, and in 1984 he was named the Harold T. Stearns Professor of Earth Sciences. In the 1970s he worked jointly as a professor at the University of Rhode Island and at the Marine Sciences Institute, where he was a PhD supervisor for Bob Ballard, who found the Titanic in 1985. Ballard later invited him to go diving in the submersible Alvin to collect rocks in the Cayman Trough. Originally interested in coming to the United States to study the Appalachian Mountains, his research eventually focused on the geotectonics of the Appalachians, Southeast Asia, and South and Central America. In 2015 he received the Joe Webb Peoples Award, presented annually by the Geological Society of Connecticut to someone who has contributed to the field of geology in Connecticut. The recipient of the Binswanger Prize for excellence in teaching, he was an outstanding teacher whose classes were very popular. He was known for making the field of Earth and Environmental Sciences attractive to students and for engendering enthusiasm for Geology, even among students and others who never thought that they would be interested in science. His love of nature and the earth sciences offered him adventure and extensive travels throughout the world. Among those who survive are his wife, Felicité, three children, and four grandchildren.