Langseth, Marcus G.

A pioneer in marine geothermal research, Marcus Gerhardt Langseth was associated with the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory for most of his 40-year career. Beginning as a research assistant and graduate student in the mid-1950s, he became a senior research scientist and an adjunct professor of earth and environmental sciences at Columbia University. In 1993 he was appointed to an endowed position as a Palisades Geophysical Institute senior scientist.

From the description of Marcus G. Langseth diaries 1955-1996. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 776981532

Geophysicist and oceanographer, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

From the description of Oral history interview with Marcus G. Langseth, 1995 December 13, 21, and 1996 June 3, December 19. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 77584641

BIOGHIST REQUIRED A pioneer in marine geothermal research, Marcus Gerhardt Langseth was associated with the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory for most of his 40-year career. Beginning as a research assistant and graduate student in the mid-1950s, he became a senior research scientist and an adjunct professor of earth and environmental sciences at Columbia University.

Dr. Langseth was born in Lebanon, Tennessee, on Nov. 24, 1932 and received his bachelor's degree from Waynesburg College in 1954. He began working at the Lamont-Doherty observatory as a summer employee in 1953, and joined the staff full time in 1955. After a two-year stint in the Army from 1956-1958, he came back to Lamont as a research staff assistant and in 1959 he started to pursue graduate studies in geophysics at Columbia University and he earned his PhD from the University in 1964.

Dr. Langseth remained affiliated with Columbia University and the Lamont-Doherty Observatory throughout his career. He was an expert in heat flow studies, and much of his research involved collecting and analyzing data about the way that heat moves on the surface of the Earth. He developed instruments that Apollo crews used to study heat flow on the moon. This work earned him NASA's Special Achievement Award. In 1993, Dr. Langseth was appointed the Palisades Geophysical Institute Senior Scientist at Lamont.

Langseth died of lung cancer in 1997.

From the guide to the Marcus G. Langseth Diaries, 1955-1996, (Columbia University. Rare Book and Manuscript Library)