Elburt F. Osborn

Elburt Franklin Osborn (August 13, 1911 – January 19, 1998) was an American geochemist and educator. He served as the 13th director of the U.S. Bureau of Mines.

Early life Elburt Franklin Osborn was born on August 13, 1911, in Kishwaukee, Illinois to Anna (née Sherman) and William Franklin Osborn. Osborn graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in geology from DePauw University in 1932. He received a Master of Science in petrology from Northwestern University in 1934 and a PhD in petrology from the California Institute of Technology in 1938.

Career In 1938, Osborn joined the Geophysical Lab at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C. He also served as a consultant of ballistic problems for Division I of the National Defense Research Committee during World War II. His work related to gun barrel erosion and internal ballistics. Osborn and his students have received international recognition for their research in the field of high temperature reactions as applied to iron and steel technology and to volcanic phenomena. Under his leadership, Penn State introduced the first interdisciplinary curriculum in solid state technology in 1960 and opened the Interdisciplinary Materials Research Laboratory in 1962. As director, he helped establish the Pennsylvania Mining and Mineral Resources Research Institute. In 1973, he became a professor at the geophysical laboratory of Carnegie Institute.

He served as president of the Mineralogical Society of America in 1960, the American Ceramic Society in 1964, the Geochemical Society in 1967, the Society of Economic Geologists in 1971, and the Geophysical Society of America. He was a fellow of the Geological Society of America, the Mineralogical Society of America, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Geophysical Union and the American Ceramic Society.

Osborn died on January 19, 1998, at his home in State College, Pennsylvania. He was interred at Centre County Memorial Park in Centre County, Pennsylvania. He was awarded the Mineralogical Society of America's Roebling Medal in 1972. Osborn was awarded the American Ceramic Society's Albert Victor Bleininger Memorial Award in 1976.