Arthur Louis Day

Day was born in Brookfield, Massachusetts{{cite book|url=http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=570&page=27|title=Arthur Louis Day|last=Abelson|first=Philip H.|date=1975|edition=Biographical Memoirs, vol. XLVII|publisher=National Academy of Sciences|pages=27|doi=10.17226/570 |isbn=978-0-309-02245-3 |access-date=2008-05-25}} and received his A.B. from Sheffield Scientific School at Yale University in 1892. He earn his Ph.D from Sheffield in 1894, and taught at Yale until 1897.{{cite journal|url= http://gsabulletin.gsapubs.org/content/75/11/P147.full.pdf|title= Arthur Louis Day|journal= GSA Bulletin|date= November 1964|volume= 75|issue= 11|pages= P147–P156|publisher = The National Academies Press|doi= 10.1130/0016-7606(1964)75[P147:MTALD]2.0.CO;2|access-date= March 30, 2014}} Day received an honorary doctorate from the University of Groningen (The Netherlands) on July 1, 1914.Album Studiosorum Academiae Groninganae, Promotiën, p. 621.Jaarboek der Rijksuniversiteit te Groningen. 1913-1914. Promotiën. Faculteit der Wis- en Natuurkunde. Honoris Causa. Aard- en Delfstofkunde. 1914, 1 Juli, p. 91.

In 1894 and 1895 he worked with German physicist Friedrich Kohlrausch studying the conductive properties of electrolytes.{{cite web|url= http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/day-arthur.pdf|title= Arthur Louis Day |publisher = National Academy of Sciences|access-date= March 30, 2014}} From 1897 to 1900 he worked at Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt in Berlin and began his study of thermometry.{{cite web|url= http://www.agu.org/books/hg/v005/HG005p0021/HG005p0021.pdf|title= History of Geophysics: Volume 5—The Earth, the Heavens and the Carnegie Institution of Washington|publisher = The Carnegie Institution of Washington |access-date= March 30, 2014}}

He worked with the U.S. Geological Survey from 1900 to 1907 studying the properties of rocks and minerals at very high and low temperatures.{{cite web|url= http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_296695|title= Arthur Louis Day (1869-1960)|publisher = Smithsonian Institution Archives|access-date= March 30, 2014}} Day served as the director of the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution for Science from 1907 until his retirement in 1936. From 1933 to 1941 he served as vice president of the National Academy of Sciences. He was president of The Geological Society of America in 1938.Eckel, Edwin, 1982, GSA Memoir 155, The Geological Society of America — Life History of a Learned Society: Boulder, Colorado, Geological Society of America Memoir 155, 168 p., {{ISBN|0-8137-1155-X}}.

Following his retirement, he traveled to New Zealand to continue his study of seismology and geothermal energy. He studied the area's volcanic areas until he had to stop his research in 1946 due to poor health.{{cite web|url= https://library.gl.ciw.edu/GLHistory/pgday.html|title= Arthur L. Day |publisher = Carnegie Institute of Washington|access-date= March 30, 2014}}

He died on March 2, 1960, in Washington, D.C.{{cite web|url= http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1351406/Arthur-L-Day|title= Arthur L. Day |publisher = Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date= March 30, 2014}}

Day was awarded the John Scott Medal, the Wollaston Medal, the Penrose Medal, the Bakhuis Roozeboom Medal and the William Bowie Medal.

Day was elected to both the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1912.{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Arthur+L.+Day&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2023-11-21 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}

In 1948, Day established the Arthur L. Day Medal through the Geological Society of America. The medal is for "outstanding distinction in contributing to geologic knowledge through the application of physics and chemistry to the solution of geologic problems".{{Cite web |url=https://www.geosociety.org/aboutus/awards/aboutAwards.htm#day |title=Geological Society of America - Awards & Medals |access-date=2019-08-29 |archive-date=2005-02-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050204123128/https://www.geosociety.org/aboutus/awards/aboutAwards.htm#day |url-status=dead }}

Day was the son of Daniel P. and Fanie (Hobbs) Day. In 1900, he married Helen Kohlrausch, daughter of physicist Friedrich Kohlrausch. Day and his wife had four children: Margaret, Dorothy, Helen and Ralph. In 1933, he married Ruth Sarah Easling. They had no children together.{{cite book|last=National Academies|title=Biographical Memoirs, Volume 47|date=1975|page=37|publisher=National Academy of Sciences |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V5QrAAAAYAAJ&q=Arthur+Louis+Day+brookfield+ma&pg=PA37|isbn=9780309022453}}

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==External links==

{{Commons category|Arthur Louis Day}}

• [http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=570&page=26 Portrait of Arthur Louis Day]
• [http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/day-arthur.pdf National Academy of Sciences Biography]

{{Presidents of the Geological Society of America}}

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Category:1869 births

Category:1960 deaths

Category:American geophysicists

Category:Wollaston Medal winners

Category:Penrose Medal winners

Category:American volcanologists

Category:People from Brookfield, Massachusetts

Category:Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science alumni

Category:Yale University faculty

Category:University of Groningen alumni

Category:United States Geological Survey personnel

Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society