Macelwane, James Bernard, 1883-1956

American geophysicist.

James Bernard Macelwane was born September 28, 1883, on the shore of Sandusky Bay off Lake Erie, about four miles southeast of Port Clinton, Ohio. He attended public elementary school, but quit school at the age of 15 to work in his father's business. After two years, the family decided that James should enter St. John's High School in Toledo, Ohio. He completed three years of high school courses in two years. In August, 1903, Macelwane was admitted to the Jesuit novitiate in Cleveland, Ohio. He studied at Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri, where he received the A.B. degree in 1910 and the M.A. in 1911, both in philosophy. He was ordained to the priesthood in St. Louis in 1918. In 1921, Father Macelwane enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley. His major field in graduate school was physics, but his dissertation was actually in the field of geophysics. He received his PhD in 1923. Father Macelwane left the University of California in 1925 to return to Saint Louis University where he would spend the remainder of his career. In 1944, he established the Institute of Technology (IT) as a separate school within Saint Louis University. The Institute offered a curricula in engineering as well as the earth and atmospheric sciences. Father Macelwane was the Institute's first dean, a position he held until his death. Father Macelwane was a very active scholar. He wrote two books, contributed chapters to several others, and wrote or presented more than 130 scientific papers. He was one of the primary forces behind the establishment of both the Jesuit Seismological Association and the Seismological Society of America. He died on February 15, 1956, of a liver infection after an illness of approximately two months.