NEWELL, NORMAN DENNIS

(b. Chicago, Illinois, 27 January 1909; d. Leonia, New Jersey, 18 April 2005)

paleontology, earth history, sedimentary geology, education.

As an invertebrate paleontologist, Newell was internationally known for his work on classification, morphology, and evolution of fossil bivalve mollusks. In a broader perspective, he recognized the episodic nature of life’s history and called attention to its major turning points and mass extinctions. A pioneer in the field of paleoecology, he applied his research on modern reefs and associated sediments to interpretations of their counterparts in the rock record. He was an authority on Permian and Triassic stratigraphy, and argued for worldwide fall in sea level as a cause of late Permian extinctions.

Boyhood Soon after Newell’s birth, his dentist father moved the family to the small town of Stafford, Kansas, where Norman spent his boyhood. Although Virgil Bingham Newell did not live to see Norman enter college, the father’s strong interest in natural history clearly influenced his son’s career choice. The elder Newell had retained his textbooks from a college geology course and had Norman poring over them by the age of ten. Two years later the pair traveled to Colorado to look for fossils. On this trip Norman saw his first rock ledges and collected his first fossil.

Education When he finished high school in Stafford, Newell’s mother, Nellie (Clark) Newell, fulfilled her pledge to his father to see that Norman went to college. She accompanied him to Lawrence, the site of the University of Kansas, where she acquired a house and rented rooms to help finance his tuition. Norman, already an accomplished clarinetist, helped pay his way by playing in local dance bands. At the University of Kansas Newell majored in geology and received both BS (1929) and AM (1931) degrees. During these years, he had close contact with Geology Department head and state geologist Raymond Moore. Moore’s forceful personality and single-minded determination to excel left a lasting impression. An especially valuable experience was a summer field course in which Moore took nine students in an open truck on a round-trip geological traverse between Lawrence and Los Angeles.

In addition to the student-professor relationship, several specific actions by Moore were important in shaping Newell’s career. As state geologist, Moore gave Newell part-time work as an undergraduate and continued to employ him following graduation. Newell earned his master’s degree during his first years with the state survey. Moore, whom Newell later referred to as his foster father, then recommended him for a graduate fellowship at Yale where, after two years of residence, he was awarded a doctorate in 1933.

Three people were especially influential during Newell’s years at Yale. Professor Carl O. Dunbar, a renowned invertebrate paleontologist and stratigrapher, supervised his graduate program. Although retired, the eminent earth historian Charles Schuchert was still active and a source of friendly advice. In fact, Schuchert helped make Newell’s New Haven days financially feasible by employing his wife Valerie to catalog specimens. The third memorable individual was an older graduate student, J. Brookes Knight (1888–1960), whose personality and intense interest in fossil mollusks greatly impressed Newell. It was at Knight’s suggestion that he chose bivalve mollusks, then termed pelecypods by American paleontologists, as his field of specialization. A Sterling Fellowship subsidized a postdoctoral year at Yale, during which Newell accomplished most of the research embodied in the first of his influential paleontological monographs.

Professional Advancement Newell’s first professional employment was as a geologist with the Kansas State Geological Survey (1929–1937). During this interval, interrupted by three years of study at Yale, Newell published geologic maps and reports on eastern Kansas counties. Still benefiting from state geologist Moore’s tutelage, Newell gained practical field experience in detailed classification and correlation of strata.

In 1934, while still employed by the state survey, Newell was appointed to the University of Kansas geology faculty. This dual appointment continued until 1937 when Moore gave his protégé another career boost. The U.S. State Department had appointed Moore to be an official delegate to the International Geological Congress to be held that year in the Soviet Union. When the university chancellor, no friend of Moore, refused to release him for that purpose, Moore appointed Newell to take his place. At the congress the twenty-eight-year-old Newell became acquainted with many foreign paleontologists and stratigraphers. He recognized the importance of being part of an international network of scientists with kindred interests, and he actively maintained such contacts throughout his career.

Upon his return, Newell accepted an associate professorship at the University of Wisconsin where he taught until 1942. Soon after America’s entry in World War II, the State Department recommended him to the Peruvian government to participate in that country’s survey of petroleum resources, an assignment that lasted for three years.

In 1945 Newell joined the staffs of two New York City institutions: Columbia University, as professor of geology, and the American Museum of Natural History, as curator. This arrangement proved ideal and Newell’s career flourished in an environment that combined excellent research support at the museum with teaching and supervision of graduate students at the university. His dual responsibilities continued until his formal retirement in 1977 when he was awarded emeritus status in both positions. If anything, retirement only whetted his appetite for research. The last of his annual field seasons involved work in Utah, Nevada, and Idaho when he was eighty-one. At age ninety he was still working many hours each week at the museum.

Scientific Accomplishments Newell’s reputation as a leading authority on taxonomy, morphology, and evolution of fossil bivalve mollusks began with publication in 1937 of a now-classic monograph on late Paleozoic representatives of the superfamily Pectinacea. This report was decades ahead of its time in integrating biological and paleontological information (e.g., muscle anatomy) and concepts (e.g., population variability) when interpreting morphology and relationships of fossil shells. Innovations in this work include original observations on ligament structure and on shell microstructure and mineralogy. The treatment of fossils as once-living organisms, an approach now taken for granted, was unusual at a time when invertebrate paleontologists were trained by geology faculties with the goal of using fossils to determine the relative age of their host strata.

Although Newell continued to describe new species to the end of his life, it can be argued that his most influential taxonomic work took place in the 1960s. The highlights were the publication in 1965 of his comprehensive classification of the Bivalvia and his major role, both as editor and contributor, in producing volumes one and two of the Bivalvia section of the Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology. These two books appeared in 1969 and served for decades as primary references in their field.

Unlike many paleontologists whose dedication to a particular taxonomic specialty commands all their attention, Newell had an unusually broad perspective on the fossil record. He shared his insights in papers that motivated his colleagues to find patterns in the record of speciation and extinction and to consider their causes in a biological context. In this respect, he helped transform invertebrate paleontology from its passive descriptive and applied aspect before World War II to a subsequent mutually beneficial partnership with the life sciences.

In several papers, Newell emphasized the episodic nature of the fossil record and the major turning points that he termed revolutions in the history of life. He called attention to the association in earth history of marine mass extinctions with worldwide changes in sea level and became well known for his advocacy of lowered sea level as the best explanation for the times of global mass extinctions of marine life. In this concept, withdrawal of the seas from the continents would impact shallow marine communities by loss of habitat space. As the subject of mass extinction attracted increased attention, Newell’s hypothesis took its place in a lengthening list of proposed causes, each eventually considered by the scientific community to have some merit but to be unsatisfactory as the sole explanation.

During the 1950s Newell became a recognized leader in the emerging fields of paleoecology and carbonate sedimentology. He understood before most of his colleagues that interpretations of fossil reefs and ancient limestones would benefit from knowledge of modern environments where reefs are growing and carbonate sediments are accumulating. This vision caused him to organize teams of graduate students and colleagues for parallel work in the Bahamas and West Texas. The former activity produced a series of widely cited publications on carbonate sediments and marine ecology of the Grand Bahama Banks. These reports were part of the “first wave” of research by geologists from industry and academe that made the Bahamas a model for interpreting the origin of ancient limestones. The fieldwork in West Texas and the adjacent part of New Mexico resulted in a 1953 coauthored book on the Permian reef complex of the Guadalupe Mountains. The influence of that book on successive generations of geologists studying the Permian strata of that area cannot be overestimated.

Newell’s interest in the Permian period, the last part of the Paleozoic era of earth history, did not begin or end with the West Texas project. As a stratigrapher, he had a career-long dedication to rocks of that age and to the superjacent Triassic strata. This stratigraphic interval has a particular fascination for earth historians because the Permo-Triassic boundary coincides with a major change in the fossil record that defines the passage from Paleozoic to Mesozoic eras. The late Permian mass extinctions are recognized as the most devastating on record, yet the Permo-Triassic boundary in many parts of the world is within a sequence of strata lacking evidence of dramatic physical events. Newell’s first investigations concerning these topics dealt with the pertinent strata in the Rocky Mountains. Nearly two decades elapsed before he returned to the general problems posed by gaps in the stratigraphic record and, in particular, to the widespread hiatus at the Permo-Triassic boundary. From then on he was a frequent contributor to the long-term international debate concerned first with criteria for defining that boundary in the rock record and finally with selecting a locality for the world reference section.

Although not typical of his career activity, Newell’s three years in Peru during World War II resulted in several important scientific publications. Furthermore they illustrate his diverse talents as a field geologist and his career-long ability to turn apparently disadvantageous situations into opportunities. Much of his fieldwork was carried out under rigorous conditions in mountainous terrain where little geological work had been done. The best known of his reports, a 1949 Geological Society of America memoir on the geology of the Lake Titicaca region, established a foundation on which later specialists on geology of this part of the Andes could build.

Other Accomplishments In the early 1970s Newell recognized that growing scientific illiteracy in the body politic was providing a willing audience for antievolutionists. He was among the first to take the problem seriously and, through a series of articles, took an active role in arousing the scientific community to the threat to science education. Not content with preaching to the choir, he devoted considerable time and effort to the writing of a 1982 book that would help the concerned layman make sense of the controversy.

When Newell arrived in New York in 1945, he organized a professional training program in invertebrate pale-ontology which involved cooperation between his two employers—Columbia University and the American Museum of Natural History. Some forty advanced degrees were granted in the program, many of them to exceptional individuals who became distinguished professors and museum paleontologists. In the former category, examples of his doctoral students are Alfred G. Fischer, Stephen Jay Gould, Bernhard Kummel, J. Keith Rigby, and Francis G. Stehli. Museum paleontologists include Roger L. Batten, Alan H. Cheetham, Niles Eldredge, Thomas R. Waller, and Ellis L. Yochelson.

Newell was not a charismatic lecturer, but many of the distinguished doctoral students he mentored eulogized him as a teacher. This was not for his classroom performance but for the manner in which he had influenced their lives. They were lastingly impressed by the characteristics observable in his day-to-day professional activity: a dedication to his science, a sharply focused pursuit of his current research program, and an ability to recognize and transcend weaknesses in conventional paleontological practices. Stephen Jay Gould, arguably Newell’s most famous student, was lavish in his praise of Newell’s influence on his career. Newell’s comment in response to one of Gould’s encomiums is revealing: “Steve honors me by calling me his teacher, but my role was primarily to encourage him and to point out promising opportunities” (1994, p. 25).

In his role as curator at the American Museum of Natural History, Newell served at various times as department head and as dean of the council of the scientific staff. Newell was active in many professional societies, serving as president of the Society for the Study of Evolution (1949), the Paleontological Society (1960–1961), and the Society of Systematic Zoology (1972–1973).

Personal Characteristics Newell was by nature a field geologist with that breed’s zest for scientific adventure and fundamental drive to collect data firsthand. For him, the next day (or season) of fieldwork was enthusiastically anticipated as an opportunity for exciting discoveries.

Although he often pointed out the significance to his career of having been in the right place at the right time and of the support received from others, several personal traits were critical to his success: superior intellect, strong self-discipline, basic self-confidence, and ambition. Little time was wasted on indecision, and a strong sense of priorities kept him from distractions and from bogging down in detail. Nevertheless the numerous visitors who interrupted his days at the museum received a cordial and gracious reception as did those who enjoyed the hospitality offered at the Newell household. In these social occasions he was convivial but never flamboyant. He was neither one to tell jokes nor to respond to them with a belly laugh, yet he had a dry, often self-deprecating sense of humor that surfaced unexpectedly on many occasions. In both writing and speaking, his manner of expression was incisive, parsimonious, and characterized by a dignified vocabulary and an absence of clichés.

He married Valerie Zirkle in 1928 while a student at the University of Kansas. Following her death in 1972, he married Gillian Wormall in 1973. For the rest of his life, Norman and Gillian were inseparable. She was an enthusiastic participant in all phases of his scientific work, and sustained him during his final years of declining health. Newell had no children.

Honors and Awards Newell received the Mary Clarke Thompson Medal (National Academy of Sciences, 1960), Distinguished Service Alumni Award (University of Kansas, 1961), Medal of the University of Hiroshima (1964), Hayden Award in Geology and Paleontology (Philadelphia Academy of Sciences, 1965), Verrill Medal (Yale Peabody Museum, 1966), Gold Medal for Achievement in Science (American Museum of Natural History, 1978), Paleontological Society Medal (1979), Raymond C. Moore Medal (Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, 1980), Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1987), Penrose Medal (Geological Society of America, 1990), Special Award (American Association of Petroleum Geologists, 1996), Geological Society of Peru Medal (1997), and Legendary Geoscientist Award (American Geological Institute, 2004). He was elected to the American Philosophical Society (1971), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1979), and the National Academy of Sciences (1979).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A complete bibliography of Newell’s publications is included in the finding aid to the Norman Newell papers held in the library archives at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

WORKS BY NEWELL

Late Paleozoic Pelecypods: Pectinacea. State Geological Survey of Kansas, vol. 10, part 1 (1937). The first of his major paleontological monographs. “Phyletic Size Increase, an Important Trend Illustrated by Fossil Invertebrates.” Evolution 3 (1949): 103–124. An early effort to find patterns in the invertebrate fossil record.

Geology of the Lake Titicaca Region, Peru and Bolivia. Boulder, CO: Geological Society of America, 1949. A pioneering work on Andean geology.

With J. Keith Rigby, Arthur John Whiteman. and John Samuel Bradley. “Shoal-Water Geology and Environments, Eastern Andros Island, Bahamas.” Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History97 (1951): 1–29. The first results of Newell’s work on modern carbonate sediments.

With J. Keith Rigby, Alfred George Fischer, Arthur John Whiteman, John E. Hickox, and John Samuel Bradley. The Permian Reef Complex of the Guadalupe Mountains Region, Texas and New Mexico. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman, 1953. A classic study, organized and led by Newell, of a famous fossil reef.

“Catastrophism and the Fossil Record.” Evolution 10 (1956): 97–101.

“Classification of the Bivalvia.” American Museum Novitates2206 (1965): 1–25. This classification was used in the 1969 Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology.

“Revolutions in the History of Life.” In Uniformity and Simplicity, edited by Claude C. Albritton, Jr. Boulder, CO: Geological Society of America Special Papers, no. 89, 1967.

With Leslie R. Cox and 23 others. Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part N, Mollusca 6, Bivalvia, vols. 1 and 2. Boulder, CO: Geological Society of America, 1969. When Cox died during preparation of these volumes, Newell assumed major responsibility for bringing them to completion.

With Donald W. Boyd. “Oyster-like Permian Bivalvia.” Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History143 (1970): 217–282. Over several decades, Boyd coauthored numerous publications with his former professor.

“Special Creation and Organic Evolution.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 117 (1973): 323–331. The first of several articles in which he decried the resurgence of creationism.

Creation and Evolution: Myth or Reality? New York: Columbia University Press, 1982. An attempt to explain the controversy to nonscientists.

“Mass Extinction: Unique or Recurrent Causes?” In Catastrophes and Earth History: The New Uniformitarianism, edited by William A. Berggren and John A. Van Couvering. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984.

“Response [to Presentation of the Penrose Medal].” Geological Society of America Bulletin 103 (1991): 571–573. He voices his concern regarding several aspects of contemporary society.

“A Salute to Stephen J. Gould.” Kirtlandia48 (1994): 25–28. Includes Newell’s appraisal of his role in Gould’s education.

With Donald W. Boyd. “Pectinoid Bivalves of the Permian-Triassic Crisis.” American Museum of Natural History Bulletin227 (1995): 1–95. Many new species are described, but many of the phylogenetic conclusions are unconvincing.

With Christopher A. McRoberts. “Marine Myalinidae (Bivalvia: Pterioida) from the Permian of West Texas.” American Museum Novitates 3469 (2005): 1–15. Newell’s last paper appeared three weeks before his death.

OTHER SOURCES

Gould, Stephen Jay. “Reply [to Presentation of the David S. Ingalls, Jr. Award for Excellence].” Kirtlandia 48 (1994): 29–30. A famous Newell student expresses his appreciation to his mentor.

Pearce, Jeremy. “Norman Newell, 96, Scientist Who Studied Dying Species.” New York Times, 23 April 2005. A representative obituary.

Donald W. Boyd