Harmon Craig

Harmon Craig was born {{Birth date|1926|3|15}} in Manhattan, in New York City,{{rp|}} to John Richard Craig, Jr. and Virginia (Stanley) Craig.{{cite news |title=JOHN CRAIG JR., 47, A STAGE PRODUCER; Former Theatre Man Here and in Boston Dead on Coast-- Once in Insurance Field |work=The New York Times |date=December 6, 1945}} He was named after his uncle, Harmon Bushnell Craig (1895-1917), but does not use his middle name.{{rp|5}}

Harmon Craig's grandparents on his father's side were actors, directors and producers. During World War I, John Craig (1868-1931) and his wife, actress Mary Young, led the first professional American stock theater company to travel to France and entertain troops at the front. While they entertained the troops, their sons Harmon Bushnell Craig (1895-1917) and John Richard Craig, Jr. (1896-1945) served in the war effort.{{cite book |last1=Evans |first1=James W. |last2=Harding |first2=Gardner L. |title=Entertaining the American Army: The American Stage and Lyceum in the World War |date=1921 |publisher=Association Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0353151208 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/entertainingame01rundgoog/page/n92 66]–73 |url=https://archive.org/details/entertainingame01rundgoog |access-date=18 April 2019}}

John Craig, Jr. received a French Croix de Guerre{{rp|10}} for his efforts as a second lieutenant of artillery, working with French 75s.

Harmon Bushnell Craig died serving with an ambulatory corps run by the American Field Service, and was posthumously awarded the French Croix de Guerre.{{cite web|url=https://thesagonline.com/22907/news/serve-my-country-to-the-last-stitch-honoring-alumni-lost-in-world-war-1/|title="Serve my country to the last stitch": Honoring alumni lost in World War I|first=Louie|last=Goldsmith|website=The Sagamore|access-date=2019-04-18|archive-date=2019-04-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190418145958/https://thesagonline.com/22907/news/serve-my-country-to-the-last-stitch-honoring-alumni-lost-in-world-war-1/|url-status=dead}}

In November 1924,{{cite news |title=Wedding John Craig Jr and Virginia Stanley |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25714140/wedding_john_craig_jr_and_virginia/ |access-date=18 April 2019 |work=Daily News |date=7 Nov 1924}} John Craig, Jr. married Virginia Stanley of Wichita, Kansas. They had three children.

Harmon Craig's mother, Virginia Stanley, was descended from Quakers who helped found schools for freed slaves. His mother's involvement with the Quakers was a strong influence on Harmon Craig.{{rp|5}}

Harmon Craig studied geology and chemistry at the University of Chicago. In 1944, he joined the U.S. Navy, serving as a communications and radar officer during World War II. After the war, he continued his education at University of Chicago, working with Nobel Laureate Harold Urey.{{cite book |last1=Gates |first1=Alexander E. |title=A to Z of Earth Scientists |date=2009 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |pages=60–62 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iiG70wX0HMwC&pg=PA60 |access-date=18 April 2019|isbn=9781438109190 }} Craig credits Urey with giving him valuable advice on how to choose scientific problems: "If you go into a project, it's got to be a scientific problem that has rooms that continue into other rooms."

Craig earned his Ph.D. in 1951, with The geochemistry of the stable carbon isotopes, a thesis on carbon isotope geochemistry.{{cite book |editor-last1=Michener |editor-first1=Robert |editor-last2=Lajtha |editor-first2=Kate |editor-link2=Kate Lajtha|title=Stable isotopes in ecology and environmental science |date=2007 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |location=Malden, MA; Oxford, UK |isbn=978-1-4051-2680-9 |pages=xx, 6–8 |edition=2nd |citeseerx=10.1.1.469.3198 }}{{cite book |last1=Craig |first1=Harmon |title=The geochemistry of the stable carbon isotopes |date=1953 |publisher=University of Chicago (Ph.D. Thesis) |location=Chicago, Illinois}}{{cite journal |last1=Craig |first1=Harmon |title=The geochemistry of the stable carbon isotopes |journal=Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta |date=February 1953 |volume=3 |issue=2–3 |pages=53–92 |doi=10.1016/0016-7037(53)90001-5 |bibcode=1953GeCoA...3...53C }}

Craig created his thesis to find the measurement of ancient sea temperature. Craig used the carbon dioxide released from calcium carbonate fossils as a basis for future researches involving the carbon system. The masses of carbon dioxide that are produced by ¹⁸O and ¹⁶O were used to calculate respective masses. Craig's study of the carbon isotope produced corrections that deal with mass fractionation and radiocarbon ages. Craig's thesis work is considered a foundational accomplishment for its studies of ¹³ C and ¹² C in a wide range of natural materials, including everything from ocean water to the atmosphere; volcanic gases; plants, coal, diamonds, and petroleum; sediments, igneous rocks and meteorites. His theory has been applied to applications as varied as determining food chains and the identifying the sources of stone for ancient statues. Karl Turekian has stated that "Craig's 35-year-old dissertation is still the measure of all subsequent work in the field."

Craig joined the Enrico Fermi Institute at the University of Chicago as a research associate in 1951.

In 1953, Urey and Craig published results showing that chondrites, meteors from the Solar System, did not have a single fixed composition, as had been assumed. After carrying out analyses of the chemical composition of hundreds of different meteorites, they reported that chondrites fell into two distinguishable groups, high iron (H) and low iron (L) chondrites. Their work "underscored the value of reliable chemical data" and led to significant improvements in data analysis in the field.{{cite journal |last1=Jarosewich |first1=Eugene |title=Chemical analyses of meteorites: A compilation of stony and iron meteorite analyses |journal=Meteoritics |date=December 1990 |volume=25 |issue=4 |pages=323–337 |doi=10.1111/j.1945-5100.1990.tb00717.x |language=en|bibcode=1990Metic..25..323J }} It led to a better understanding of the materials and processes involved in forming planets.{{cite journal |last1=Wiik |first1=H.B. |title=The chemical composition of some stony meteorites |journal=Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta |date=June 1956 |volume=9 |issue=5–6 |pages=279–289 |doi=10.1016/0016-7037(56)90028-X |bibcode=1956GeCoA...9..279W }}{{cite journal |last1=Urey |first1=Harold C. |last2=Craig |first2=Harmon |title=The composition of the stone meteorites and the origin of the meteorites |journal=Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta |date=August 1953 |volume=4 |issue=1–2 |pages=36–82 |doi=10.1016/0016-7037(53)90064-7 |bibcode=1953GeCoA...4...36U }}

In 1955 Harmon Craig was recruited to Scripps Institution of Oceanography by Roger Revelle.{{rp|5}} His laboratory at Scripps eventually contained five mass spectrometers, one of them a portable unit.{{cite book |last1=Shor |first1=Elizabeth Noble |title=Scripps Institution of Oceanography: Probing the Oceans 1936 to 1976 |date=1978 |publisher=Tofua Press |location=San Diego, California |url=http://scilib.ucsd.edu/sio/hist/gc29s5.pdf |access-date=19 April 2019 |archive-date=25 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190425203756/http://scilib.ucsd.edu/sio/hist/gc29s5.pdf |url-status=dead }}

As a professor of geochemistry and oceanography at Scripps, Craig developed new methods in radiocarbon dating and applied radioisotope and isotope distribution to various topics in marine-, geo-, and cosmochemistry. Craig produced fundamental findings about how the deep earth, oceans and atmosphere work.

During the 1950s Craig measured variations in the concentrations of hydrogen and oxygen isotopes in natural waters. In 1961, Craig identified the global meteoric water line, a linear relationship describing the occurrence of hydrogen and oxygen isotopes in terrestrial waters.{{rp|344}}{{cite web

|url = https://scripps.ucsd.edu/news/2706

|title = Obituary Notice Pioneer of Geochemistry: Harmon Craig

|date = March 18, 2003

|website = Scripps News

|first = Mario

|last = Aguilera

|access-date = November 22, 2018

|archive-date = November 22, 2018

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181122215548/https://scripps.ucsd.edu/news/2706

|url-status = dead

}}{{cite journal|journal=Science |title=Isotopic variations in meteoric waters|volume=133|issue=3465 |pages=1702–1703 |date=26 May 1961|author=Harmon Craig |doi=10.1126/science.133.3465.1702|pmid=17814749|bibcode = 1961Sci...133.1702C |s2cid=34373069 }}

Craig also established the oxygen isotope shift in geothermal and volcanic fluids, demonstrating that the water is meteoric. His discovery outlined the relation between rocks and water in geothermal systems.{{cite journal |last1=Giggenbach |first1=W.F. |title=Isotopic shifts in waters from geothermal and volcanic systems along convergent plate boundaries and their origin |journal=Earth and Planetary Science Letters |date=November 1992 |volume=113 |issue=4 |pages=495–510 |doi=10.1016/0012-821X(92)90127-H |bibcode=1992E&PSL.113..495G }}

In 1963, Craig received a Guggenheim Fellowship, using it to spend a year at the Istituto de Geologia Nucleare, Pisa, Italy.

He described a framework for studying the isotopic composition of the hydrosphere, discussing kinetics, equilibrium, and the use of isotopes for paleoenvironmental reconstructions.{{rp|6}}{{cite book |editor-last1=Tongiorgi |editor-first1=E. |last1=Craig |first1=H. |title=Nuclear Geology on Geothermal Areas. Proceedings of the First Spoleto Conference, Spoleto, ltaly |date=1963 |publisher=V. Lischi & Figli |location=Pisa |pages=17–53 |chapter = The isotopic geochemistry of water and carbon in geothermal areas }}{{cite book |editor-last1=Tongiorgi |editor-first1=E. |last1=Craig |first1=H. |first2= L.I. |last2=Gordon|title=Stable Isotopes in Oceanographic Studies and Paleotemperatures, Proceedings of the Third Spoleto Conference, Spoleto, ltaly |date=1965 |publisher=V. Lischi & Figli |location=Pisa |pages=9–130 |chapter = Deuterium and oxygen 18 variations in the ocean and the marine atmosphere }}{{cite book |editor-last1=Tongiorgi |editor-first1=E. |last1=Craig |first1=H. |title=Stable Isotopes in Oceanographic Studies and Paleotemperatures, Proceedings of the Third Spoleto Conference, Spoleto, ltaly |date=1965 |publisher=V. Lischi & Figli |location=Pisa |pages=161–182 |chapter = The measurement of oxygen isotope paleotemperatures }}

The work he presented with Louis I. Gordon on isotopic fractionation of the phase changes in water is known as the Craig-Gordon Model.

The model is applied to problems in watershed and ecosystem studies such as the calculation of evaporation.{{rp|355–358}}{{cite journal |last1=Craig |first1=H. |last2=Gordon |first2=L. I. |last3=Horibe |first3=Y. |title=Isotopic exchange effects in the evaporation of water: 1. Low-temperature experimental results |journal=Journal of Geophysical Research |date=1 September 1963 |volume=68 |issue=17 |pages=5079–5087 |doi=10.1029/JZ068i017p05079 |bibcode=1963JGR....68.5079C }}

It has been called "a corner stone of isotope geochemistry."{{cite journal |last1=Strauch |first1=Gerhard |last2=Gonfiantini |first2=Roberto |title=Another special issue: 40 years Craig–Gordon model of isotope fractionation of water |journal=Isotopes in Environmental and Health Studies |date=March 2008 |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=1 |doi=10.1080/10256010801887000 |pmid=18320422 |bibcode=2008IEHS...44....1S |s2cid=34179724 }}

During the Nova Expedition of 1967, Craig and colleagues W. Brian Clarke (1937–2002){{cite journal |last1=Jenkins |first1=William J. |last2=Doney |first2=Scott C. |last3=Fendrock |first3=Michaela |last4=Fine |first4=Rana |last5=Gamo |first5=Toshitaka |last6=Jean-Baptiste |first6=Philippe |last7=Key |first7=Robert |last8=Klein |first8=Birgit |last9=Lupton |first9=John E. |last10=Newton |first10=Robert |last11=Rhein |first11=Monika |last12=Roether |first12=Wolfgang |last13=Sano |first13=Yuji |last14=Schlitzer |first14=Reiner |last15=Schlosser |first15=Peter |last16=Swift |first16=Jim |title=A comprehensive global oceanic dataset of helium isotope and tritium measurements |journal=Earth System Science Data |date=5 April 2019 |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=441–454 |doi=10.5194/essd-11-441-2019 |bibcode=2019ESSD...11..441J |doi-access=free |hdl=1912/24088 |hdl-access=free }}{{rp|449–450}}{{cite web |last1=Jenkins |first1=W. J. |title=W. Brian Clarke Professor Emeritus Physics & Astronomy 1937-2002 |url=https://www.mcmaster.ca/mufa/newsOct02.html |website=McMaster University |access-date=24 April 2019|date=October 8, 2002}} and M.A. Beg from McMaster University in Canada observed the Kermadec Trench in the Pacific Ocean.

They found unexpectedly high proportions of the helium-3 isotope in the ocean waters. Craig concluded that the isotope was present within the Earth's mantle and theorized that it was leaking into sea water through cracks in the sea floor.{{cite book |last1=Emiliani |first1=Cesare |title=Oceanic lithosphere |date=June 28, 2005 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=9780674017368 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gRZihrnakJoC&pg=PA394|pages=392=394}}{{cite journal |last1=Clarke |first1=W.B. |last2=Beg |first2=M.A. |last3=Craig |first3=Harmon |title=Excess 3He in the sea: Evidence for terrestrial primodal helium |journal=Earth and Planetary Science Letters |date=June 1969 |volume=6 |issue=3 |pages=213–220 |doi=10.1016/0012-821X(69)90093-4 }}

Craig and coworkers studied the isotopic composition of atmospheric and dissolved oxygen in the composition of dissolved gases, where he discovered the biochemical oxygen demand and the intake in the ocean mixed layer. Craig determined by measuring that the element, ²¹⁰Pb is rapidly scavenged by sinking particulate matter.{{cite journal |last1=Nozaki |first1=Yoshiyuki |last2=Zhang |first2=Jing |last3=Takeda |first3=Akihisa |title=2I0Pb and210Po in the equatorial Pacific and the Bering Sea: the effects of biological productivity and boundary scavenging |journal=Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography |date=January 1997 |volume=44 |issue=9–10 |pages=2203–2220 |doi=10.1016/S0967-0645(97)00024-6 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222235022 |access-date=24 April 2019}}{{cite journal |last1=Craig |first1=H. |last2=Krishnaswami |first2=S. |last3=Somayajulu |first3=B.L.K. |title=210Pb226Ra: Radioactive disequilibrium in the deep sea |journal=Earth and Planetary Science Letters |date=January 1973 |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=295–305 |doi=10.1016/0012-821X(73)90194-5 }}

In 1970, Craig teamed up with colleagues at Scripps, Columbia University's Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to direct the GEOSECS Programme (geochemical ocean sections study) to investigate the chemical and isotopic properties of the world's oceans. GEOSECS produced the most complete set of ocean chemistry data ever collected.

In 1971, as part of the Antipode Expedition, Craig and his colleagues gathered hydrographic casts and other data, and discovered a benthic front separating the South Pacific deep and bottom water.{{rp|338}}{{cite journal |last1=Craig |first1=H. |last2=Chung |first2=Y. |last3=Fiadeiro |first3=M. |title=A benthic front in the South Pacific |journal=Earth and Planetary Science Letters |date=September 1972 |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=50–65 |doi=10.1016/0012-821X(72)90236-1 |bibcode=1972E&PSL..16...50C }}

During the 1970s Craig examined the relationship of gases such as radon and helium to earthquake prediction, developing a monitoring network at thermal springs and wells near major fault lines in southernmost California.{{cite journal |last1=King |first1=Chi-Yu |title=Gas geochemistry applied to earthquake prediction: An overview |journal=Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth |date=10 November 1986 |volume=91 |issue=B12 |pages=12269–12281 |doi=10.1029/JB091iB12p12269 |bibcode=1986JGR....9112269K }}{{cite book |last1=Craig |first1=H |last2=Lupton |first2=J E |last3=Chung |first3=Y |last4=Horowitz |first4=R M |title=Technical Report No.7, Investigation of radon and helium as possible fluid-phase precursors to earthquakes. Technical Report No. 2, Additional task: Radon, helium and geochemical monitoring on the Palmdale uplift |date=1977 |publisher=Scripps Institution of Oceanography |location=La Jolla, California |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9q82h532 |access-date=19 April 2019}} In 1979, he detected an increase in radon and helium as a precursor to an earthquake near Big Bear Lake, California.{{cite journal |last1=Shapiro |first1=M. H. |last2=Melvin |first2=J. D. |last3=Tombrello |first3=T. A. |last4=Mendenhall |first4=M. H. |last5=Larson |first5=P. B. |last6=Whitcomb |first6=J. H. |title=Relationship of the 1979 Southern California Radon Anomaly to a possible regional strain event |journal=Journal of Geophysical Research |date=1981 |volume=86 |issue=B3 |pages=1725 |doi=10.1029/JB086iB03p01725 |url=https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/ee58/595023dacad2b5df795d0f3deb3bb2e4d331.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190425194532/https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/ee58/595023dacad2b5df795d0f3deb3bb2e4d331.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2019-04-25 |access-date=25 April 2019|bibcode=1981JGR....86.1725S |s2cid=40963868 }}

In a long-term project, Harmon Craig and Valerie Craig (his wife) used carbon and oxygen isotopes to identify the sources of the marble used in ancient Greek sculptures and temples.{{cite journal |last1=Tambakopoulos |first1=Dimitris |last2=Stefanidou-Tiveriou |first2=Theodosia |last3=Papagianni |first3=Eleni |last4=Maniatis |first4=Yannis |title=Provenance investigation of Roman marble sarcophagi from Nicopolis, Epirus, Greece: revealing a strong artistic and trade connection with Athens |journal=Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences |date=23 October 2017 |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=597–608 |doi=10.1007/s12520-017-0556-8 |s2cid=134878848 }}{{cite book |last1=Herz |first1=N.|editor-last1=Herz |editor-first1=N. |editor-last2=Waelkens |editor-first2=Marc |title=Classical Marble: Geochemistry, Technology, Trade |date=April 17, 2013 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |chapter = The oxygen and carbon isotopic data base for classical marble |pages= 305–314|isbn=9789401577953|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y3fyCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA303 |access-date=25 April 2019}}{{cite journal |last1=Craig |first1=H. |last2=Craig |first2=V. |title=Greek Marbles: Determination of Provenance by Isotopic Analysis |journal=Science |date=28 April 1972 |volume=176 |issue=4033 |pages=401–403 |doi=10.1126/science.176.4033.401 |pmid=17777722 |jstor=1734394 |bibcode=1972Sci...176..401C |s2cid=1833369 }}

Craig discovered submarine hydrothermal vents by measuring helium 3 and radon emitted from seafloor spreading centers. He made 17 dives to the bottom of the ocean in the ALVIN submersible, including the first descent into the Mariana Trough. There he discovered hydrothermal vents nearly 3700 m deep.{{cite web

| url = https://www.scribd.com/document/16298030/Harmon-Craig-Gumshoe-of-Geochemistry

| title = Harmon Craig: The Gumshoe of Geochemistry

| last= Page |first= Douglas

| date = 1999 | website= Scribd

}}

Craig proved that there was excess ³He instead of ⁴He, affecting the understanding for ocean circulation and seafloor spreading.{{cite journal |last1=Lupton |first1=John E. |last2=Craig |first2=Harmon |title=A Major Helium-3 Source at 15° S on the East Pacific Rise |journal=Science |series=New Series |date=October 2, 1981 |volume=214 |issue=4516 |pages=13–18 |jstor=1687232 |doi=10.1126/science.214.4516.13|pmid=17802550 |s2cid=179027416 }}{{cite book |last1=Broecker |first1=W.S. |editor-last1=Warren |editor-first1=Bruce A. |editor-last2=Wunsch |editor-first2=Carl |title=Evolution of Physical Oceanography|chapter=Chapter 15: Geochemical Tracers and Ocean Circulation |date=September 29, 1980 |publisher=The MIT Press |pages=434–461 |chapter-url=https://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-12-000-evolution-of-physical-oceanography-spring-2007/part-3/wunsch_chapter15.pdf |access-date=25 April 2019}}

Craig led 28 oceanographic expeditions and traveled to the East African Rift Valley, The Dead Sea, Tibet, Yunnan (China) and many other places to sample volcanic rocks and gases.{{cite news |title=A conversation with Harmon Craig |first=Neil|last=Sturchio |url=https://www.geochemsoc.org/files/8313/4436/8118/gn098.pdf |access-date=18 April 2019|pages=12–20 |work=The Geochemical News |issue=January |date=1999}} He visited all the major volcanic island chains of the Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean to collect lava samples. He identified 16 mantle hotspots where volcanic plumes rise from the Earth's outer core through the deep mantle by measuring their helium 3 to helium 4 ratio, identifying the higher helium 3 content present in the hotspots as primordial helium, trapped in the Earth's core when it was first formed.

Craig was one of the earliest people to analyze the gases trapped in the glacier ice.{{cite journal |last1=Craig |first1=H. |last2=Horibe |first2=Y. |last3=Sowers |first3=T. |title=Gravitational Separation of Gases and Isotopes in Polar Ice Caps |journal=Science |date=23 December 1988 |volume=242 |issue=4886 |pages=1675–1678 |doi=10.1126/science.242.4886.1675 |pmid=17730578 |bibcode=1988Sci...242.1675C |s2cid=34912363 }} Craig reported that the methane in the atmosphere had increased twice due to human day-to-day activities in the last 300 years.{{cite news |title=Two Geochemists Win Prizes in Earth Science |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/11/19/us/two-geochemists-win-prizes-in-earth-science.html |access-date=25 April 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=November 19, 1987}}{{cite web |last1=Marti |first1=Kurt |last2=Weiss |first2=Ray F. |last3=Winterer |first3=Edward L. |title=In Memoriam: Harmon Craig Professor of Oceanography |url=https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/inmemoriam/html/HarmonCraig.html |website=UC San Diego |publisher=UC San Diego Senate |access-date=25 April 2019}}{{cite journal |last1=Craig |first1=H. |last2=Chou |first2=C. C. |title=Methane: The record in polar ice cores |journal=Geophysical Research Letters |date=November 1982 |volume=9 |issue=11 |pages=1221–1224 |doi=10.1029/GL009i011p01221 |bibcode=1982GeoRL...9.1221C }}

Craig was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1979.{{cite web |title=Harmon Craig |url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/56655.html |website=National Academy of Sciences

|access-date=18 April 2019}}

Craig won the VM Goldschmidt Medal of the Geochemical Society in 1979, the National Science Foundation's Special Creativity Award in Oceanography in 1982 and the Arthur L. Day Prize and Lectureship of the National Academy of Sciences in 1987.

He shared the Vetlesen Prize with Wallace S. Broecker in 1987.{{cite web | title = Harmon Craig Biography | url = https://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/the-vetlesen-prize/past-recipients/harmon-craig | website=Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory }}

In 1998 he was awarded the Balzan Prize for Geochemistry, from the International Balzan Foundation of Milan, Italy.{{cite news |title=Harmon Craig Wins Balzan Prize |url=https://www.geochemsoc.org/files/8313/4436/8118/gn098.pdf |access-date=18 April 2019|page=8 |work=The Geochemical News |issue=January |date=1999}}{{cite web |title=Harmon Craig USA 1998 Balzan Prize for Geochemistry (Acceptance Speech – Rome) |url=https://www.balzan.org/en/prizewinners/harmon-craig/rome-23-11-1998-craig |website=International Balzan Prize Foundation |access-date=18 April 2019|date= November 23, 1998}}{{cite web |title=Harmon Craig wins Balzan Prize |url=https://www.socarchsci.org/bulletin/9901/9901n.htm |website=The Society for Archaeological Sciences Bulletin |publisher=Society for Archaeological Sciences |access-date=18 April 2019 |date=1998 |issue=December |archive-date=2 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190802123503/http://www.socarchsci.org/bulletin/9901/9901n.htm |url-status=dead }}

The Foundation commended him as "a pioneer in earth sciences who uses the varied tools of isotope geochemistry to solve problems of fundamental scientific importance and immediate relevance in the atmosphere, hydrosphere and solid earth." It was the first time that the prize had gone to a geochemist. Craig was quoted as saying "The Prize's most significant effect was to establish that Geochemistry, especially Isotope Geochemistry, which began in 1947, had come of age and is a mature science. This was much more important than the specific person chosen for the award."

He received an honorary degree from the University of Paris.{{rp|10}}

Craig died at Thornton Hospital in La Jolla, California on 14 March 2003 from a massive heart attack{{cite journal |last1=Weiss |first1=Ray |title=Harmon Craig (1926–2003) |journal=Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union |date=2003 |volume=84 |issue=22 |pages=207–208 |doi=10.1029/2003EO220005 |bibcode=2003EOSTr..84..207W |doi-access=free }} a day before his seventy-seventh birthday.{{cite journal |last1=Turekian |first1=Karl K. |title=Harmon Craig (1926–2003) |journal=Nature |date=June 2003 |volume=423 |issue=6941 |pages=701 |doi=10.1038/423701a |pmid=12802321 |doi-access=free }}

{{quote|Harmon's curiosity and sense of adventure knew no bounds... His drive for scientific achievement was unparalleled in my experience. The ocean and earth science world has lost a truly spirited adventurer and one of the greatest geochemists of the 20th century. – Charles Kennel, director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 2003}}

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/32508 Oral history interview transcript with Harmon Craig on 29 April 1996, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives]
• {{cite web |title=Accession No.: 2003-41 PROCESSING RECORD: Harmon Bushnell Craig Papers, 1948-2003 |url=https://library.ucsd.edu/speccoll/findingaids/Craig2003-41.pdf |website=SCRIPPS INSTITUTION OF OCEANOGRAPHY ARCHIVES |access-date=19 April 2019}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Craig, Harmon}}

Category:1926 births

Category:2003 deaths

Category:American geochemists

Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences

Category:American climatologists

Category:Mass spectrometrists

Category:University of Chicago alumni

Category:Recipients of the V. M. Goldschmidt Award

Category:Vetlesen Prize winners