Hoffmeister, J. Edward (John Edward), 1899-1991

Professor of geology at the University of Rochester (1923-1964), Hoffmeister was primarily concerned with the development of coral reefs. He did field studies of coral reefs in the Tongan and Fijian Islands in the late 1920s and early 1930s and off the coast of Florida in the 1960s and 1970s. His research contributed significantly to the advancement of the antecedent-platform theory of reef formation, which argued that no change in sea level was necessary for reef formation to occur.

Biography

John Edward Hoffmeister (1899-1991) was a professor of geology and an administrator at the University of Rochester from 1923 until 1964. His research focused on the development of coral reefs, based on field work he conducted in the Tongan and Fijian islands in the late 1920s and early 1930s and off the coast of Florida during the 1960s and 1970s.

As a graduate student, Hoffmeister worked with T. Wayland Vaughn at the National Museum of Natural History. He was also a fellow of the Bishop Museum in Hawaii, 1921-1929, where he was invited to join the expedition of W.A. Setchell in 1926 to study geology in Eua, an island in the Tongan Group. Hoffmeister's second Pacific expedition was in 1928 with Harry Ladd, again in the Tongan Group. In 1934, he and Ladd made another joint expedition, this time to Fiji. During these expeditions, Hoffmeister made several films of island life and corresponded regularly with his family back home.

His researches on these expeditions resulted in twenty-five articles and included his articulation of the antecedent-platform theory of coral reef formation. This theory posed an alternative to Darwin's theory of subsidence which suggested that reefs have sunk with the subsidence of the sea floor. Hoffmeister's theory suggests that no change in sea level is necessary for understanding reef development.

During World War II, Hoffmeister's knowledge of the Pacific was put to use making bombing maps of the Pacific for the Army Map Service. He worked as a geologist for the United States Geological Survey in 1942-44 and, in 1946, consulted on the Bikini atom bomb test.

Following nearly forty years of service as an educator and administrator at the University of Rochester, Hoffmeister returned to field work on corals off the coast of Florida at the University of Miami's marine laboratory. His post-retirement period was productive, resulting in several publications, including a summary of his Florida work in a book for popular audiences, LAND FROM THE SEA (1974).

He was a fellow of the Geological Society of America, the Geological Association of Canada, and the Paleontological Society of America.