Sharp, Robert P. (Robert Phillip)

Geologist (geomorphologist). Born 1911.

Sharp earned his Harvard AM in 1936 and his PhD in 1938.

Robert P. Sharp 1911-2004. PhD, geology from Harvard 1937. Taught at Caltech.

Biography

Robert Phillip Sharp was born in 1911 in Oxnard, California. He attended the California Institute of Technology, where he earned his BS degree in 1934 and his MS degree a year later. In 1938 he received his PhD in geology from Harvard University, with a study of the structure and geomorphology of the Ruby-East Humboldt Range in Nevada.

Subsequent to his graduation from Harvard, Sharp began teaching at the University of Illinois, but World War II interrupted his academic career. He served from 1943 to 1945 in the US Air Force at the Arctic, Desert, and Tropic Information Center, where he was assigned to research and write manuals for arctic survival.

After the war, Sharp joined the University of Minnesota faculty, and in 1947 he began teaching at his alma mater, the California Institute of Technology, where he spent the rest of his academic career. From 1952 through 1968, he served as chair of the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences. During his tenure he initiated the programs in geochemistry and planetary geology at Caltech.

The primary focus of Sharp's work has been on forms and processes on planetary surfaces,particularly those of Earth and Mars. His research topics cover a wide range of subjects,from glaciers to sand dunes and from landslides and mud flow processes to landforms of Mars.

During his PhD studies, field research in northeastern Nevada established his interest in landform development, mainly erosion surfaces and glaciations. Sharp's participation in the Caltech Grand Canyon boat expedition of 1937, sponsored by the Carnegie Institution of Washington, provided him with an opportunity for extended study of the Precambrian erosion surfaces of that region. An expedition to the Ice Field Range of the St. Elias Range initiated a thorough research on glaciers in Alaska and Canada. When he moved back to Southern California in 1947, Sharp started to investigate landforms in desert areas, such as sand dunes and their mechanics, desert domes, desert varnish and ventifacts.

Sharp served as a team investigator on the Mariner 4 (1965), 6, 7 (1969), and 9 (1971) flights to Mars, applying his knowledge of terrestrial landforms and processes to the study of the surface of Mars.

Sharp's work has been recognized with his election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1971 and to the National Academy of Sciences in 1973. He was made an honorary member of the International Glaciological Society in 1973. He received the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal in 1971 and the National Medal of Science in 1989. He received the Kyrk Bryan Medal of the Geological Society of America in 1964 and the Penrose Medal of the Geological Society of America in 1977. In 1991 he won the Charles P. Daly Medal of the American Geographical Society.

An endowed professorship in geology at the California Institute of Technology was created in 1978 in his name, honoring him and his academic achievements. Sharp became emeritus professor at Caltech in 1979. He continued to teach until 1998.

Robert Phillip Sharp was born on June 24, 1911, in Oxnard, California. He is the firstborn son of Julian and Alice Sharp. He spent his childhood in Oxnard, then a small farming community of about 5,000 people.

Sharp was admitted to the California Institute of Technology in 1930. His original intention was to become an engineer. However, during his sophomore year he became fascinated with geology after taking a required course in that field. Having discovered what would be his life's work, he completed his undergraduate studies in geology at Cal Tech in 1934. After spending a year as a graduate student at Cal Tech, Sharp was accepted at Harvard University, and went on to earn his Ph.D. in geology in 1938.

During 1937, his final year at Harvard, Sharp was the youngest member of a geological research expedition to the Grand Canyon of scholars from the Carnegie Institute of Washington and the California Institute of Technology. This expedition was organized and led by Dr. Ian Campbell, a Cal Tech geologist who was acquainted with Sharp. It was Campbell who suggested that Sharp be invited to join the expedition. Harvard University agreed to allow Sharp a traveling fellowship for this purpose.

During the two-month boat trip down the Colorado River, Sharp took copious notes on the geology of the Grand Canyon. Using this research material, he later published two papers about Precambrian unconformities. Another field notebook, which Sharp created at Campbell's request, is titled "On Archean Rocks."

Robert Sharp's published materials regarding the geology of the Grand Canyon include the following: "A Cambrian slide breccia, Grand Canyon, Arizona." American Journal Science, 1940, 238.688-672; "Ep-Archean and Ep-Algonkian erosion surfaces, Grand Canyon, Arizona." Geoeological Society America Bulletin, 1940, 51:1235-1270.

After completing his doctorate, Sharp served in the U.S. Air Force from 1943 through 1946. Shortly after his military service, he was employed as a professor of geology at Cal Tech, a position he retained until 1978. At the date of this note he resides in California with his wife, Jean. He has referred to the 1937 Grand Canyon expedition as the best trip of his life.