Memorial to Benjamin Martin Shaub1893-1993

TOM AS FEIN IN G ER Centre Géoscientifique de Québec, C.P. 7500, Ste-Foy, Québec G 1V 4C7, Canada

At a meeting of the Friends of the Grenville at Au Sable Forks, New York, in September 1990, a geochronologist presented a w ritten com pilation o f all radiom etric ages determined on rocks from the Adirondacks through 1987.There were well over 100 dates, and the earliest, a chemi­cal lead-uranium age o f uraninite from a pegm atite at Richville Station, was published by Ben Shaub in 1940.W hen I poin ted out tha t Ben w as alive and w ell, the geochronologist exclaimed: “He can’t be. Why, he’d be 100!” I replied that he was only 97, and furthermore, that I was sure that he’d appreciate receiving a copy of the com­pilation. The geochronologist duly sent a copy to Ben, and in return received a warm letter of thanks, neatly typed and signed in a firm hand.

This incident, and the accuracy of the chemical date (1094 Ma, w hich fits nicely into currently accepted Adirondack geochronology) epitomizes much of Ben’s life. He was a warm and communicative man as well as a good scientist over a broad range, and one who never lost interest in the wonderful world around him.

Benjamin Martin Shaub was born in Shrewsbury, Pennsylvania, on January 12, 1893, the son of Emma Keeney Shaub and George Henry Shaub. Ben grew up on the family farm, attend­ing elementary school in the neighborhood one-room schoolhouse. That completed, he traveled to Ithaca, New York, to work for the Lehigh Valley Railroad and to attend high school. Subse­quently, Ben enrolled at Cornell University, receiving a degree in engineering in 1923. He taught machine design at Cornell for six years, but mineralogy and the outdoors increasingly captured his interest and launched him into further study, again at Cornell, where he received his M.Sc. (1928) and Ph.D. (1929) in geology. The topic o f his doctoral thesis, “The Cause of Banding in Fissure Veins,” was the springboard to his lifelong fascination with agates and allied stones which culminated with the publication of his book, The Origin o f Agates, Thundereggs and Other Nodular Structures when he was 96.

In 1931 Ben moved to Northampton, Massachusetts, to take a position as professor of geol­ogy at Smith College. For 27 years, until he retired in 1958, he taught mineralogy, petrography, optical mineralogy, and gems and precious stones, as well as directing graduate students’ theses. Ben showed a certain favoritism to one of his students, Mary Church. He supervised her M.A. thesis and— the favoritism continuing— they were married on March 22, 1939, a happy union that was to last exactly 54 years.

B en’s summers, beginning in the 1920s, were occupied doing field geology in eastern Canada, the northeastern United States, and northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). Early in his career he did oil exploration in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York.

Following his retirement at age 65, Ben’s life was unusual in that he was to have 35 addi­tional productive years. He built on an earlier penchant for photography and supplied numerous illustrations in black and white and in color to textbook publishers and the Encyclopaedia Bri­tannica. With Mary, Ben carried on the activities of the Shaub Ornithological Research Station,

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contributing 29 publications to various specialized journals from 1947 to 1964, as well as edit­ing and distributing the “Evening Grosbeak Survey News” to birdwatchers. Together, under a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service permit, the Shaubs banded more than 9000 birds at their Northampton home. Ben also became an accomplished woodworker, constructing exacting mahogany cabinets for his large mineral collection.

In his later years Ben traveled extensively to photograph birds and to study mineral locali­ties in Africa and Central and South America. In 1977, he and Mary drove their camper to Alaska and back.

Ben served in both world wars. He was an instructor in the Naval Radio School during World War I, and during World War II he was in charge of the Springfield, Massachusetts, Ord­nance District Gage Checking Laboratory.

On October 20, 1988, at the GSA Centennial, Ben was honored as a 50-year Fellow. He was also a Fellow of the Mineralogical Society of America, a member of Sigma Xi, and a char­ter member of the Connecticut Valley Mineral Club. Ben held two patents: one on a drawing instrument and the other on a photometer.

Ben died in Northampton on March 23, 1993, his centennial year, having lived a fruitful life. He leaves his wife Mary, and several nieces and nephews. His long, cheerful, and produc­tive life was a model for many. He is missed by those who had the privilege of knowing him.

SELECTED BIBLIO G RAPH Y OF B. M SHAUB1929 A unique feldspar deposit near Dekalb Junction, New York: Economic Geology, v. 24,

p. 68-69.1934 The cause of banding in fissure veins: American Mineralogist, v. 19, p. 393-402.1935 Replacement in filled fissure veins: American Mineralogist, v. 20, p. 875-880.------ Color photography in mineralogy: American Mineralogist, v. 20, p. 199.------ An inexpensive rock-slicing machine: Economic Geology, v. 30, p. 916-922.1936 A simple method of making, mounting, and filing polished sections: Economic Geology,

v. 31, p. 212-218.------ On the use of “polaroid” for photographing large thin sections in crossed polarized light:

American Mineralogist, v. 21, p. 384-386.1937 Age of the uraninite from the Ruggles mine, Grafton Center, New Hampshire: Science,

new ser., v. 86, p. 156.------Contemporaneous crystallization of beryl and albite vs. replacement: American Mineralo­

gist, v. 22, p. 1045-1051.------The origin of cone-in-cone and its bearing on the origin of concretions and septaria:

American Journal of Science, 5th ser., v. 34, p. 331-344.------ Paragenesis of the uranium-bearing and associated minerals of the Ruggles pegmatite near

Grafton Center, New Hampshire: American Mineralogist, v. 22, p. 207.1938 Some applications of natural color photography in mineralogy: American Mineralogist,

v. 23, p. 20-27.------ The occurrence, crystal habit and composition of uraninite from the Ruggles mine, near

Grafton Center, New Hampshire: American Mineralogist, v. 23, p. 334-341.1939 The origin of stylolites: Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, v. 9, p. 47-61.1940 Age of the uraninite from the McLear pegmatite near Richville Station, St. Lawrence

County, New York: American Mineralogist, v. 25, p. 480-487.------ On the origin of some pegmatites in the town of Newry, Maine: American Mineralogist,

v. 25, p. 673-688.1941 Occurrence and origin of babingtonite and other minerals from Quabbin Aqueduct, Mas­

sachusetts: American Mineralogist, v. 26, p. 121-129.

MEMORIAL TO BENJAMIN MARTIN SHAUB 201

1946 Paragenesis of the Chickering pegmatite near Walpole, New Hampshire: Geological Soci­ety of America Bulletin, v. 57, p. 1284-1285.

------ Variation in crystal habit of pyrite in the Collins Hill pegmatite near Middletown, Con­necticut: American Mineralogist, v. 31, p. 512.

1947 Coal partings in stylolite seams: Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, v. 17, p. 114-118.1949 Do stylolites develop before or after the hardening of the enclosing rock?: Journal of Sedi­

mentary Petrology, v. 19, p. 26-36.------ Magnetic anomalies of the Russell, New York, quadrangle: New York State Science Ser­

vice Report of Investigations, no. 2 ,9 p.------Paragenesis of the garnet and associated minerals of the Barton mine near North Creek,

New York: American Mineralogist, v. 34, p. 573-582.1953 Ruin-marble—A stylolitic formation?: American Journal of Science, v. 251, p. 602-605.------ Stylolites and oil migration: Journal of Sedimentary Petrology, v. 23, p. 260-264.1954 Pollucite from Lithia, Massachusetts: American Mineralogist, v. 39, p. 661-664.------ Magnetic anomalies of the Santa Clara, New York, quadrangle: New York State Science

Service Report of Investigations no. 4 ,28 p.------Magnetic anomalies of the Paradox Lake, New York, quadrangle: New York State Science

Service Report of Investigations no. 5,13 p.1955 Notes on the origin of some agates and their bearing on a stylolite seam in petrified wood:

American Journal of Science, v. 253, p. 117-120.1956 (with Wrinch, D.) Notes on a six-rayed diffraction star produced by magnetite enclosed in

muscovite: American Mineralogist, v. 41, p. 944-947.1959 Using the microscope for specific gravity determination of minute mineral grains: Ameri­

can Mineralogist, v. 44, p. 890-891.1975 Treasures from the Earth; the world of rocks and minerals: New York, Crown Publishers,

223 p.1989 The origin of agates, thundereggs and other nodular structures: Northampton, Mas­

sachusetts, Agate Publishing Co., 105 p.

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