AASP Primary Records Program

Paul Bigelow Sears

An outstanding scientist in this field was Paul B. Sears. He gained the A.B. degree at Ohio Wesleyan University in 1913, then took another bachelor's degree and a master's at the University of Nebraska, before earning his Ph.D. in botany at the University of Chicago in 1922. After teaching botany at the University of Nebraska from 1919 to 1927, he moved to the University of Oklahoma until 1938. For the next 12 years he served as the Head of the Botany Department at Oberlin College in Ohio. Next, he was selected to direct the School of Conservation at Yale University; he wore a second hat as Head of the Department of Plant Science until his retirement in 1960 at age 69.

His many palynological research publications and, especially, his popular books on conservation were so well regarded that he was given honorary doctoral degrees at six different universities. Traverse and Sullivan (1983) have previously described how Sears brought Quaternary pollen workers together by means of regular Pollen Conferences, as well as the publication of the "Pollen and Spore Circular" between 1943 and 1954.

REFERENCES

Canright, J.C. 1995.
A brief history of some major contributors to the development of palynology in the United States. Palynos 18(2): 2-7.

Sears, P.B. 1930.
A record of postglacial climate in North America. Ohio Journal of Science 30: 205-217.

________ 1930.
Common fossil pollens of the Erie Basin. Botanical Gazette 89: 95-106.

________ 1931.
Pollen Analysis of Mud Lake Bog in Ohio. Ecology 12: 650-655.

________ 1932.
Postglacial climate in eastern North America. Ecology 13: pp. 1-6.

________ 1932.
Glacial and postglacial vegetation. Botanical Review 1(2): 37-51.

________ 1935.
Types of North American pollen profiles. Ecology 16: 488-499.

________ 1937.
Pollen analysis as an aid in dating cultural deposits in the United States. p. 61-66 In: MacCurdy, G. G. (ed.), Early Man. As Depicted by Leading Authorities at the International Symposium, The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia. J. B. Lippincott Co., London,

________ 1942.
Postglacial migration of five forest genera. American Journal Botany 29: 584-691.

________ 1948.
Forest Sequence and Climatic Change in Northeastern North America Since Early Wisconsin Time. Ecology 29: 326-333.

________ 1950.
Pollen Analyses In Old and New Mexico. GSA Bulletin 61: 1171.

________ 1953.
Climate and civilization. pp. 34-50 In: Shapley, H. (ed.) Climatic Change: Evidence, Causes, and Effects. Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge.

Sears, P.B. and Couch, G.C. 1932
Microfossils in an Arkansas peat and their significance Ohio Journal Science 32: 63-68.

Sears, P.B. and Janson, E. 1933.
The rate of peat growth in the Erie Basin. Ecology 14: 348-355.

Sears, P.B. and Roosma, A. 1961.
A climatic sequence for two Nevada caves. American Journal of Science 259: 669-678.

Traverse, A. Sullivan, H.J. 1983.
The background, origin, and early history of the American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists. Palynology (7): 7-18.