Clyde Wahrhaftig

Clyde A. Wahrhaftig (December 1, 1919 – April 6, 1994) was an American geologist who worked for the United States Geological Survey and taught at the University of California at Berkeley. His research areas included Alaska, the Sierra Nevada, and the California Coast Ranges. He is also known for his field guides to the geology of San Francisco and the Bay Area.

Biography Wahrhaftig was born and raised in Fresno, California. He earned a bachelor's degree in geology at Caltech in 1941, and a Ph.D. in geology at Harvard in 1953. He worked for the US Geological Survey (USGS) as a field geologist from 1941 until his death; the bulk of his USGS work was in Alaska. His interest in environmental issues led to him taking the position of Chair and Director of the new Environmental Sciences interdepartmental undergraduate major in 1975. He retired from UC Berkeley in 1982. A Walker's Guide to the Geology of San Francisco, and The Hayward Fault in Hayward and Fremont, via BART. Wahrhaftig was also the co-author of two geology textbooks. Streetcar to Subduction has been revisited in digital form with a Google Earth-based online field trip guide series Streetcar2Subduction released in December 2019 at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in recognition of the 35th anniversary of the original book and the 100th anniversary of Wahrhaftig's birth.

Wahrhaftig spent most of his career as a closeted homosexual, but he came out as a gay man during his acceptance speech for the Geological Society of America's "Distinguished Career Award" in 1989. He had a close personal and professional relationship with the geophysicist Allan Cox that lasted until Cox's death in 1987.

Wahrhaftig died of heart failure in San Francisco at the age of 74.

Scientific work Wahrhaftig made significant scientific contributions to the field of geology; his work is credited with inspiring the research of many colleagues and students. He was one of the first Bay Area scientists to bring the role of plate tectonics in causing earthquakes to public awareness. He was also a pioneer in applying geological science to environmental problems, with a particular focus on forest management practices (e.g., effects of logging on soil erosion). He was appointed to the California Board of Forestry in 1975, where he advocated for forest practices legislation that took a long-term perspective on geomorphological effects of forest management.

Wahrhaftig was given the GSA's Distinguished Career Award in 1989.

Wahrhaftig was largely responsible for paleomagnetist Allan Cox entering the field of geology, and considered this to be one of his major accomplishments in the field. Cox later described the rock glacier research as "one of the most interesting and exciting projects" he'd ever worked on; the rock glacier work also brought Cox's attention to the issue of rock dating. After 2 years of army service (during which Wahrhaftig continued to send him geology books), Cox returned to the university and changed his area of study to geophysics. The rock glacier work was published as Wahrhaftig and Cox (1959).

Publications