Marshall Kay

George Marshall Kay
Born	November 10, 1904 Paisley, Ontario
Died	September 3, 1975 Englewood, New Jersey
Residence	Leonia, New Jersey
Nationality	American
Fields	Geology
Institutions	Columbia University
Alma mater	Columbia University
Known for	Stratigraphy
Notable awards	Penrose Medal (1971)

Marshall Kay (1904–1975) was a geologist and professor at Columbia University. He is best known for his studies of the Ordovician of New York, Newfoundland, and Nevada, but his studies were global and he published widely on the stratigraphy of the middle and upper Ordovician. Kay's careful fieldwork provided much geological evidence for the theory of continental drift. He was awarded the Penrose Medal in 1971. Less well known is his work for the Manhattan project, as a geologist searching for manganese deposits. Marshall's son Robert Kay of Cornell University and son-in-law Robert Berner of Yale University are also geology professors. His son Richard Kay of Duke University is a biological anthropologist and vertebrate paleontologist.

Kay received his Ph.D. from Columbia in 1929.

Bibliography

• Marshall Kay, North American geosynclines (Memoir 48), Geological Society of America, 1951.
• Stratigraphy and Life History. Marshall Kay and Edwin Colbert. Wiley, New York, 1965.

References

• Kirtley F. Mather, A Source Book in Geology, 1900-1950. Harvard University Press, 1969. ISBN 0-674-82275-7. pp. 347–348.

External links

• Trenton Group scientific history, "Academic Period" bio at Harvard
• University of Iowa distinguished alumni award bio, 1971
• Time Magazine obituary, 1975
• University of Iowa Paleontology Repository Archive, finder's aid retrieved 21 April 2009. Boxes 3-5 contain stratigraphy class notes and maps and a memorial from Robert H. Dott Jr.