AASP Primary Records Program

Elso Sterrenberg Barghoorn

Elso S. Barghoorn obtained his Ph.D. in 1941 under Irving W. Bailey's guidance. After teaching for five years at Amherst College (and starting at the magnificent annual salary of $2,000), he joined the Harvard faculty to teach paleobotany. He is probably best known for his description of the Precambrian microorganisms from the Gunflint Chert of Ontario.

Palynological students include J. William Schopf, Alfred Traverse (Ph. D. Harvard, 1951).

From PNAS
Date of Birth: June 30, 1915
Elected to National Academy of Sciences : 1967
Date of Death: January 27, 1984

Elso Barghoorn
1915-1984
Written by Amber Degner, 2001
www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information/biography/abcde/barghoorn_elso.html

Elso Barghoorn was born in New York City in 1915. He graduated from Miami University in Ohio and he received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1941. Barghoorn was Fisher Professor of Natural History at Harvard University and Curator of the Universities plant fossils collections. (New York Times, CT120 Nov. 91) In 1941 he married his first wife Margaret Alden MaCleod, who he later divorced. He then married Teresa Joan LaCroix, and that soon ended in divorce. He finally married his last wife Dorothy Dellmer Osgood in 1964. She died in 1982.

Elso investigated plant fossils gradually pushing back the estimates of the origin of life to more than 3.4 billion years ago (Website). He looked at fossil evidence from the Archeaneon, starting with uncontroversial fossils from around 2 billion years ago and then using them in the interpretation of possible fossils dating from as far back as 3.4 billion years ago. In the 1950's Dr. Barghoorn discovered fossilized colonies of blue-green algae and aquatic fungi near lake Superior. These algae were 2 billion years old.

By the 1960's he increased science's estimate of the age of the earliest known fossils by another billion years. In 1977 he and his colleagues reported finding South African fossils that were estimated to be 3.4 billion years old. This meant that life originated soon after a suitable environment appeared. (New York Times)

References:

New York Times CT120 Nov. 91.Volume 22 (Pg. 1273).

National Academy of Sciences Department. www.google.com/search?9barghoorn%2c+elso+&btng+google+search.

Palynological students include J. William Schopf, Alfred Traverse (Ph. D. Harvard, 1951).

REFERENCES (compiled by O.K.Davis)

Barghoorn, E.S. 1941.
The ontogenetic development and phylogenetic specialization of rays in the xylem of conifers and dicotyledons. Thesis (Ph. D.) Harvard University.

___________ 1942.
The occurrence and significance of marine cellulose-destroying fungi. Science 96:358-359.

___________ 1944.
Collecting and preserving botanical materials of archaeological interest. American Antiquity 9: 289-294.

___________ 1949.
The Boylston Street fishweir II; a study of the geology, palaeobotany, and biology of a site on Stuart Street in the Back Bay district of Boston, Massachusetts. Papers of the Robert S. Peabody Foundation for Archaeology, v. 4, no. 1

___________ 1949.
Degradation of plant materials and its relation to the origin of coal. Botanical Museum Leaflets, Harvard University, 14 (1) 1-29,

___________ 1950.
The Brandon lignite. Jt. Bull. 18: Vt. Bot. & Bird Clubs 21-36,

___________ 1951.
Age and environment: A survey of North American Tertiary floras in relation to paleoecology. Jour. Paleont. 25: 736-744.

___________ 1953.
Recent changes in sea level along the New England coast. Science 117: 597-598.

___________ 1956.
Geological and botanical study of the Brandon lignite and its significance in coal petrology. Econ. Geol. 45: 344-357.

___________ 1957.
Origin of life. Geol. Soc. of America, Memoir 67, pp. 75-[85] 86

___________ 1965.
Paleontology. Time Magazine, March 12, 1965

___________ 1967.
Irving Widmer Bailey 1884-1967. Bulletin - International Association of Wood Anatomists. 2: 2-4.

___________ 1971.
The Oldest Fossils. Scientific American, 224:

Barghoorn, E.S. and Bailey. I.W. 1940.
A useful method for the study of pollen in peat. Ecology 21: 513-514.

Barghoorn, E.S. and Linder, D.H. 1944.
Marine Fungi: Their taxonomy and biology. Farlowia I: 395-467.

Barghoorn, E.S. and Darrah, W.C. 1938.
Horneophyton a necessary change of name for Hornea. Harvard University Botanical Museum Leaflets, 6: 142-144.

Barghoorn, E.S. and Tyler, S.A. 1965.
Microorganisms from the gunflint chert. Science 147:563-577.

Barghoorn, E.S., Wolfe, M.K. and Clisby K.H. 1954.
Fossil Maize from the Valley of Mexico. Botanical Museum Leaflets, Harvard University 16:229-240.

Bartlett, A.S., and Barghoorn, E.S. 1973.
Phytogeographic History of the Isthmus of Panama During the Past 12,000 Years (A History of Vegetation, Climate and Sea-Level Change). In Vegetation and Vegetational History of Northern Latin America, edited by A. Graham, pp. 203–299. Elsevier Scientific, New York.

Bridgewater, D., Allaart, J.H., Schopf, J.W., Klein, C., Walter, M.R., Barghoorn, E.S., Strother, P., Knoll A.H., and Gorman. B.E., 1981. Microfossil-like objects from the Archaean of Greenland: A cautionary note. Nature 289: 51-53.

Canright, J.E. 1953.
The comparative morphology and relationships of the Magnoliaceae II. Significance of the pollen. Phytomorphology, Delhi, 3:355-365

Kaye, C.A. and Barghoorn, E.S. 1964.
Late Quaternary sea-level change and crustal rise at Boston, Massachusetts, with notes on the autocompaction of peat: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 75, p. 63-80.

Lenk, C., Strother, P.K., Kaye, C., & E. S. Barghoorn, E.S. 1982.
Precambrian age for the Boston Basin--new evidence from microfossils. Science 216: 619-920.

Leo, R.F. and Barghoorn, E.S. 1976.
Silicification of wood. Harvard University Botanical Museum Leaflets, 25: 1-47.

Prakash, U. and Barghoorn, E.S. 1961.
Miocene Fossil Woods from the Columbia Basalts of Central Washington. J. Arnold Arbor. 42: 165-203 .

Prakash, U. and Barghoorn, E.S. 1961.
J. Miocene Fossil Woods from the Columbia Basalts of Central Washington. Arnold Arbor. 42: 347-362 .

Rossignol-Strick, M., and Barghoorn, E.S. 1971.
Extraterrestrial abiogenic organization of organic matter: The hollow spheres of the Orgueil meteorite. Space Life Sci. 3:89-107.

Schopf, J.W. and and Barghoorn, E.S. 1969.
Microorganisms from the late Precambrian of South Australia. Journal of Paleontology 43: 111-118.

Scott, R.A., Barghoorn, E.S., and Leopold, E.B. 1960.
How old are the angiosperms? American Journal of Science 258-A: 284-299.

Stanley, T.A. and Barghoorn, E.S. 1954.
Occurrence of structurally preserved plants in Pre-Cambrian Rocks of the Canadian Shield. Science 119: 606-608.

Steeves, M.W. and Barghoorn, E.S. 1959.
The pollen of Ephedra. Journal Arnold Arboretum. 40: 221-259.

Strother, P.K., and Barghoorn, E.S. 1980.
Microspheres from the Swartkoppie Formation: A review. In: H. O. Halvorson & K. E. Van Holde (eds.) The Origins of Life and Evolution. Alan R. Liss, New York, p. 1-18.

Strother, P.K., and Barghoorn, E.S. 2000.
Clues to life in the Archean Eon, 97-115. In: L. Margulis, C. Matthews and A. Haselton (eds.) Environmental Evolution: Effects of the origin and evolution of life on planet Earth. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.

Strother, P.K., Knoll, A.H. & Barghoorn, E.S. 1983.
Microfossils from the late Precambrian Narssârssuk Formation, northwest Greenland. Palaeontology 26(1): 1-32.

Tiffney, B.H. and Barghoorn, E.S. 1979.
Flora of the Brandon Lignite. IV. Illiciaceae. American Journal of Botany 66: 321-329.

Tiffney, B.H. and Barghoorn, E.S. 1976.
Fruits and seeds of the Brandon Lignite. I. Vitaceae. Review of Paleobotany and Palynology 22: 169-191.

Tiffney, B.H. and Barghoorn, E.S. 1974.
The fossil record of the fungi. Occasional Papers of the Farlow Herbarium 7: 1-42.

Wheeler, E., Scott, R.A. and Barghoorn, E.S. 1977.
Fossil dicotyledonous woods from Yellowstone National Park Region. Journal Arnold Arboretum 58:280-302.

Wheeler, E., Scott, R.A. and Barghoorn, E.S. 1977.
Fossil dicotyledonous woods from Yellowstone National Park Region. Part II. Journal Arnold Arboretum 59:1-26.