Memorial to John Walter Grüner1890-1981TIBOR ZOLTAI

Department o f Geology and Geophysics, University o f Minnesota,310 Pillsbury Drive S.E., Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455

John W. G runer was born on July 12, 1890, in Neurode, a small town in Sudetenland, a province of Germ an Prussia. This area is now part o f Poland. A fter graduating from high school, he worked in a wholesale house for two years and m ade enough money to fulfill his childhood dream to come to America. He arrived in New Y ork in 1912. W ithin a year he learned enough English and was sufficiently accustomed to the American way o f life to obtain a job with the Big Four Railways in Indianapolis as a civil engineer. His duties offered him a chance to travel and see some beautiful areas in the country. This experience no doubt led his inquisitive mind to ponder the origin and history o f the Rocky M ountains and other geologic features. Three years after landing

at Ellis Island, he enrolled at the University o f New Mexico where he studied geology under Professor Charles Kirk and took courses in basic sciences in order to better understand geology and mineralogy. He graduated in 1917 and continued his studies a t the University of Iowa under Professor George Kay. A year later, in 1918, he came to the University o f M innesota, which was to be the base o f his long and productive career. He started as a research assistant to Professor W illiam H. Em mons and began an intensive study o f petrology under Professor F rank F. G rout. He received his m aster’s degree in the spring o f 1919 and accepted a tem porary assistant professorship at Oregon State University. A year later he returned to the University o f M innesota as an instructor o f geology. He completed the Ph.D . requirem ent in 1922 and was pro­moted to associate professor in 1926 and to full professorship in 1944. W ith the excep­tion of two sabbatical leaves (1926-27 and 1937-38), he taught continuously at the University o f M innesota until his retirem ent in 1959. He was an excellent and thorough teacher. He set very high standards of perform ance for him self in both teaching and research. Only the best students could satisfy his expectations. Despite his tough reputa­tion, 12 students completed m aster’s and 28 completed doctor’s program s under his direction. They all became successful members o f the scientific or industrial community. The undergraduate students who took his mineralogy courses or physics and geography courses during W orld W ar II num ber in the thousands.

Dr. G runer, JW to his friends, was an equally productive research scientist. He published about 100 scientific papers. He was among the first geologists to teach x-ray diffraction in the United States (1927) and worked on the difficult crystal structure determ ination o f layered silicates. His pioneering work on the Biwabik Iron Form ation has provided a sound basis for mineralogic, petrologic, and Stratigraphie study o f all iron form ations. His mapping o f the structure and stratigraphy o f the Archean rocks in the Knife Lake area in northeastern M innesota, completed in 1941, is a classic piece of

2 THK G E O LO G ICA L SOCIETY OE AMERICA

work. His comprehensive book on the mineralogy of the Mesabi Iron Form ation was published in 1946, and 35 years later it is still the most im portant reference book on this subject. His work has stood the test o f time, perhaps because his acute powers of observation and attention to detail were combined with a desire to understand broad problems of petrogenesis. During W orld W ar II he developed a m ethod and grew large single crystals for the U.S. Army Signal Corps. A fter W orld W ar II he investigated the geology and mineralogy of the Colorado uranium deposits. His contributions to the understanding o f radioactive minerals equaled the value o f his other studies.

He was equally active in professional societies. He was a member o f m ajor geo­logical societies and was elected a Fellow of the Geological Society o f America in 1923, a Fellow of the Mineralogical Society of America in 1927, and a Fellow o f the Society of Economic Geologists in 1928. His contributions were appreciated by his colleagues, who elected him president o f the Crystallographic Society of America (1947-48), presi­dent o f the Mineralogical Society of America (1948-49), and vice-president o f the Geo­logical Society o f America (1949-50). After his retirement his contributions to min­eralogy were recognized by the award of the Roebling Medal (1962) o f the Mineralogical Society o f America.

Other recognitions o f his achievements included an H onorary Doctor o f Science degree o f the University o f New Mexico (1963) and the Distinguished Service Award of the University of M innesota Chapter of Sigma Xi (1960), in which chapter he served as president (1953-54). In 1965 the University o f Minnesota sponsored and the National Science Foundation supported the “ International Conference on Rock-Forming M inerals,” which was dedicated to his 75th birthday. In 1972 a group o f his former students wrote and dedicated in his honor GSA Memoir 135 entitled Studies in Min­eralogy and Precambrian Geology. This publication is commonly referred to as the “ Gruner Volume.”

In 1919 he married an equally exceptional person, Opal G arrett, who was also a teacher. She taught mathematics to returning veterans in 1946-47 and to junior high school students in 1958-59. She was also active in civic duties. They had three children: Wayne (1921), Hazel (1924), and G arrett (1928), and maintained an ideal and happy marriage until her death in 1966.

All o f us who were fortunate to know Dr. Gruner as a scientist and as a man bend our heads with sorrow to the will o f God.

Biographical ReferencesKerr, Paul F., 1963, Presentation of the Roebling Medal to John W. Gruner: American

M ineralogist, v. 48, p. 443-445.Doe, Bruce R ., 1972, An introduction to John W. Gruner: Geological Society of

America Memoir 135, p. vii-xii.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF J. W. GRUNER1920 Geologic reconnaissance of the southern part o f the Taos range, New Mexico:

Journal o f Geology, v. 28, p. 731-742.1922 Paragenesis o f the m artite ore bodies and magnetites o f the Mesabi range:

Economic Geology, v. 17, p. 1-14.1923 Algae, believed to be Archean: Journal o f Geology, v. 31, p. 146-148.1924 Contributions to the geology of the Mesabi range, with special reference to the

magnetites o f the iron-bearing form ation west o f Mesaba: Minnesota Geological Survey Bulletin, v. 19, 71 p.

M EM ORIAL TO JO H N W A L TE R G R Ü N E R 3

1925 Discovery o f life in the Archean: Journal o f Geology, v. 33, p. 151-152.1926 The Soudan Formation and a new suggestion as to the origin o f the Vermilion

iron ores: Economic Geology, v. 21, p. 629-644.1927 Outline o f the geology o f the iron ores and ore production o f the Lake Superior

region: International Bergwirthschaft, v. 2, 5 p.1928 The oscillation method o f x-ray analysis o f crystals: American Mineralogist,

v. 13, p. 123-141.------ Die Struktur des Analcims—I. Die Raumgruppe: Zeitschrift fiir Kristallographie,

v. 68, p. 363-378.1929 Structural reasons for oriented intergrowths in some minerals: American Min­

eralogist, v. 14, p. 227-237.------ Structures o f sulphides and sulphosalts: American Mineralogist, v. 14, p. 470-481.1930 Hydrothermal oxidation and leaching experiments: their bearing on the origin

of Lake Superior hematite-limonite ores: Economic Geology, v. 25, p. 697-719.1932 The crystal structure of kaolinite: Zeitschrift fiir Kristallographie, v. 83, p. 75-88.------ The crystal structure o f dickite: Zeitschrift für Kristallographie, v. 83, p. 394-404.------ Magnesiosussexite, a new mineral from a Michigan iron mine, isomorphous with

sussexite and camsellite: American Mineralogist, v. 17, p. 509-513.1933 The crystal structure of nacrite and a comparison o f certain optical properties o f

the kaolin group with its structure: Zeitschrift fiir Kristallographie, v. 85,p. 345-354.

1934 The crystal structures o f talc and pyrophyllite: Zeitschrift fiir Kristallographie, v. 88, p. 412-419.

------ The structure o f vermiculites and their collapse by dehydration: American Min­eralogist, v. 19, p. 557-575.

1935 The structure relationship o f glauconite and mica: American Mineralogist, v. 20, p. 699-714.

1936 The structure and chemical composition o f greenalite: American Mineralogist, v. 21, p. 449-455.

1937 Notes on the structure of serpentines: American Mineralogist, v. 22, p. 97-103.------ Composition and structure o f stilpnomelane: American Mineralogist, v. 22,

p. 912-925.------ (and McConnell, D .) The problem of the carbonate-apatites—the structure of

francolite: Zeitschrift für Kristallographie, v. 97, p. 208-215.1939 Ammonium mica synthesized from vermiculite: American Mineralogist, v. 24,

p. 428-433.1943 The chemical relationship o f cryptomelane (psilomelane), hollandite, and corona-

dite: American Mineralogist, v. 28, p. 497-506.1944 The composition and structure of minnesotaite, a common iron silicate in iron

formations: American Mineralogist, v. 29, p. 363-372.------ The kaolinite structure of amesite, (OH)8(Mg, Fe^Al^SizAl^Om, and additional

data on chlorites: American Mineralogist, v. 29, p. 422-430.------ The hydrothermal alteration o f feldspars in acid solutions between 300° and

400 °C: Economic Geology, v. 39, p. 578-589.1946 The mineralogy and geology o f the taconites and iron ores o f the Mesabi range,

Minnesota: St. Paul, Minnesota, Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation,127 p.

1947 Groutite, H M n02, a new mineral o f the diaspore-goethite group: American Mineralogist, v. 32, p. 654-659.

1948 Progress in silicate structures: American Mineralogist, v. 33, p. 679-691.

1954 The uranium mineralogy o f the Colorado Plateau and adjacent regions: Utah Geological Society Guidebook to the Geology of Utah, v. 9, p. 70-77.

1956 Concentration o f uranium in sediments by multiple migration-accretion: Economic Geology, v. 51, p. 495-520.

1957 The why and where o f uranium in sedimentary rocks: Mines Magazine, v. 47, p. 84-88.

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