Education
Once the war had finished he returned to America and earned a doctorate from Yale.
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Dwight Crandell
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Born in Illinois, Crandell fought in World World War II as a lieutenant in an Army mortar platoon. lieutenant was then he was placed at the United States Geological Survey office in Colorado. Crandell and Mullineaux, who met at the offices then began to work on the theory that Mount Saint Helens will erupt.
The pair proved that about 5,600 years earlier, the summit of Mount Rainier had collapsed and caused a landslide filling some valleys up to 400 feet deep.
That awakened the recognition that a similar event could endanger hundreds of thousands of people living atop the ancient mudflows. They went on to write the 1978 report that claimed Mount Saint Helens is “an especially dangerous volcano” and it would more than likely erupt before the end of the 20th century.
On May 18, 1980 their predictions came true when the volcano erupted killing 57 people and caused more than $1 billion worth of damage. He retired shortly after the eruption.
Crandell died in a hospice in Colorado on May 6, 2009 after suffering a heart attack.
