Background
Robert Phillip Sharp was born on June 24, 1911 in Oxnard, Ventura County, California, United States. He was a son of Julian Hebner Sharp and Alice Sharp.
(Glaciers, so simple in chemical composition, are actually...)
Glaciers, so simple in chemical composition, are actually complex, vital entities. Far from being a passive chunk of ice, a glacier is a dynamic system, sensitive to its surroundings and constantly changing to adapt to its environment. An appreciation of the natural beauty of glaciers are created, how they behave, how they affect the environment and how they are eventually destroyed. Few people are untouched by glaciers. A significant part of the world's population inhabits areas formerly covered by glacial ice, which left its marks on the land. Today, glaciers are only found in select parts of the world, but by their influence on global sea level and climatic change, they could have a dramatic effect on modern humanity. Living Ice: Understanding Glaciers and Glaciation aims to increase our knowledge and understanding of glacial activity and products. It is written in a nontechnical and engaging style. The text is peppered with anecdotes and insights from one of the world's experts on glaciers and it is also liberally and thoughtfully illustrated by numerous stunning black and white and colour illustrations. It is suitable for anyone with a passing knowledge of earth science and an interest in the world of living ice.
https://www.amazon.com/Living-Ice-Understanding-Glaciation-1991-06-28/dp/B01FIWWP3O/?tag=2022091-20
1988
(Reading the rocks like pages in a book, Geology Underfoot...)
Reading the rocks like pages in a book, Geology Underfoot in Southern California offers an inside view of the southland's active and sometimes enigmatic landscape. Twenty vignettes each weave a geologic story of a particular scene, relationship, or feature. Some spotlight well-known landmarks, while others describe subtle relationships among the earth's awesome forces. Together these snapshots introduce readers to southern California's rich, dynamic, and even flamboyant geology.
https://www.amazon.com/Geology-Underfoot-Southern-California-Robert/dp/0878422897/?tag=2022091-20
1993
(Eastern California boasts the greatest dryland relief in ...)
Eastern California boasts the greatest dryland relief in the contiguous United States — between Mt. Whitney and Death Valley — and that relief exposes spectacular geology. These thirty driving and walking tours each weave the tale of a geological features or relationship in this land of extremes. Some sketches ponder questions that puzzle geologists: how do stones slide across Racetrack playa? Others spotlight the earth-sculpturing role of volcanoes and earthquakes: lava columns at Devils Postpile and fault scarps that shape a golf course. Still others focus on less obvious but equally powerful processes: boulders shattered by salt crystals and rocks blasted by windblown sand.
https://www.amazon.com/Geology-Underfoot-Death-Valley-Owens/dp/0878423621/?tag=2022091-20
1997
educator geochemist geologist geomorphologist scientist author
Robert Phillip Sharp was born on June 24, 1911 in Oxnard, Ventura County, California, United States. He was a son of Julian Hebner Sharp and Alice Sharp.
Robert Phillip Sharp graduated from Oxnard Union High School. In 1934 he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from California Institute of Technology and a Master of Science degree in 1935. In 1936 Sharp obtained a Master of Arts degree from Harvard University and a Doctor of Philosophy in geology in 1938.
Robert Phillip Sharp became an assistant professor in the geology department of the University of Illinois at Urbana after he finished his Ph.D. He taught at Illinois from 1938 until 1943, when he was called to wartime service in the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). He rose to the rank of captain while he was assigned to USAAF’s Arctic, Desert, and Tropic Information Center, where he worked until 1945. After the end of the war Sharp returned to academia as a full professor in the University of Minnesota’s geology department from 1945 to 1947, and then he returned to the California Institute of Technology, where he taught until 1979, serving as chairman of the geology department from 1952 to 1967. Though he officially retired in 1979, Sharp continues as instructor of the introductory field course in geology at Caltech that he has taught for more than thirty years.
Sharp has participated in field explorations and expeditions which have yielded significant discoveries and stimulated further research. In 1937 he accompanied other researchers on an expedition by boat of the Grand Canyon; their findings contributed to the scientific understanding of erosion in the Precambrian era, the earliest geologic era. In 1941 Sharp participated in an expedition to the Ice Field Ranges in the Saint Elias mountains along the border between Alaska and Canada. This project served as the catalyst for comprehensive research on glaciers in Alaska, Canada, and the northwestern United States.
While employed in the Midwest, Sharp investigated the contrasting characteristics of continental and mountain glaciation, and he identified patterns and formations in the soil created by frozen ground that lay outside of glaciers in Illinois. After moving to southern California, Sharp took the opportunity to study the various processes acting on the earth’s surface in desert areas. He studied desert domes and sand dunes, in particular, and among his many findings are his discoveries about sand transport by wind, sandblasting of natural and artificial objects, dune movements, and the causes for the shapes and activities of sand dunes.
Sharp has provided a substantiated theory for how the five-hundred-foot Kelso Dunes of the Mojave Desert were developed; he explained why they were located in the middle of the valley instead of piled up against the mountains, as would be expected given the prevailing wind direction. Because the wind regime in that area is so complex, storm winds are able to cancel out the strong westerly winds. This scenario also explains the asymmetrical shape of sand dunes. His research into dune movement also led Sharp to the important, but as of yet unsubstantiated, projection that the large intradune flats of the Algodones Dunes chain in southeastern California are advancing southeasterly and will eventually jeopardize the All-American Canal. He also studied glacial deposits in the Sierra Nevada of California and distinguished the glacial deposits and features in the earth’s surface created by separate episodes of ice advance. His investigations are responsible for expanding the accepted model of Sierra glaciation.
Sharp’s knowledge of terrestrial landforms and processes earned him a position on the team analyzing the results of the various Mariner flights to Mars between 1965 and 1971. Sharp and his colleagues interpreted terrains and surface features from photographs of Mars taken from the spacecraft. The team was able to recognize various terrains, and they concluded that although Mars does not now have water, conditions of the planet’s surface indicate it did at one time. He theorized that the large chasms in the surface of Mars were due to water trapped underground which froze and melted before it could reach the surface. There were forms on Earth which served as good models for terrestrial features on Mars, but the configuration and scale of these features represent processes that have not occurred here.
After retiring from Caltech, Sharp and his wife Jean moved their home from Altadena to Santa Barbara, where they lived for two decades in a custom-built house on Gibraltar Road overlooking the Pacific Ocean. He died on May 25, 2004 in Santa Barbara.
(Reading the rocks like pages in a book, Geology Underfoot...)
1993(Eastern California boasts the greatest dryland relief in ...)
1997(Glaciers, so simple in chemical composition, are actually...)
1988
On September 7, 1938 Robert phillip sharp married Jean Prescott Todd. They have two adopted children: Christy and Bruce.