Harmon Craig

Who was Harmon Craig?

Harmon Craig was an American geochemist.

Craig studied geology and chemistry at the University of Chicago, where he earned a Ph.D. under Nobel Laureate Harold Urey with a thesis on carbon isotope geochemistry in 1951. He remained at the University of Chicago as a research associate at the Enrico Fermi Institute. In 1955 he was recruited to Scripps Institution of Oceanography by Roger Revelle. Craig developed new methods in radiocarbon dating and applied the radioisotope and isotope distribution to various topics in marine-, geo-, and cosmochemistry. As professor of Geochemistry and Oceanography at Scripps, Craig produced fundamental findings about how the deep earth, oceans and atmosphere work.

In 1970, Craig teamed up with colleagues at Scripps, Columbia University's Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to direct the GEOSECS Programme to investigate the chemical and isotopic properties of the world's oceans. GEOSECS produced the most complete set of ocean chemistry data ever collected.

Craig discovered submarine hydrothermal vents by measuring helium 3 and radon emitted from seafloor spreading centers.