Gould, Laurence McKinley, 1896-1995

Laurence (Larry) McKinley Gould was born in Michigan in 1896. He studied law and geology at the University of Michigan before serving in Italy and France with the US Army Ambulance Service during the First World War. After the war, he resumed his geological studies at the University of Michigan, receiving his doctorate in 1923. In 1926, he was a member of the University of Michigan's expedition to Greenland under Professor W.H. Hobbs and the following year, he joined G.P. Putnam in exploring and mapping the west coast of Baffin Island. In 1928, he was selected as geologist on the United States Antarctic Expedition, 1928-1930 (leader Richard Evelyn Byrd), later serving as second-in-command. Gould took charge of the construction of the expedition base, Little America, and led dog-sledging parties to study the geology of the Rockefeller and Queen Maud Mountains. On his return, he wrote a classic account of his experiences in the book Cold .

In 1932, he established a geology department at Carleton College, Minnesota, remaining professor of geology there until 1945 when he was appointed president of the college. During the Second World War, he acted as chief of the Arctic section of the US Air Force's Arctic, Desert and Tropic Information Centre. In 1955, he led the US delegation at the first planning meeting for the Antarctic programme of the International Geophysical Year, which provided the basis for international scientific co-operation in the Antarctic. A member of many trustee boards and foundations, Gould served as president of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) between 1963 and 1970, and was strongly influential in promoting both national and international polar science. On retiring from Carleton College in 1962, he was appointed professor of geology at the University of Arizona. He died on 20 June 1995.

Published work Cold; the record of an Antarctic sledge journey by Laurence McKinley Gould, Carleton College Minnesota (1984) SPRI Library Shelf (7)91(08)[1928-1930]

From the guide to the Laurence Gould collection, 1928-1931, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)