William BowieDied 28 Aug 1940 at age 68 (born 6 May 1872).American geodesist who investigated isostasy (a principle that dense crustal rocks to tend cause topographic depressions and light crustal rocks cause topographic elevations). He made measured gravity anomalies on land and obtained gravity surveys in the oceans. These observations correlated the anomalies with topographic features and validated the geological concept of isostasy. With John F. Hayford, his predecessor at the Coast and Geodetic Survey, he computed tables of the depth of isostatic compensation (the surface above which the weight of the crust per unit area is equalized). Bowie felt that this zone would occur at a uniform depth as predicted by John Henry Pratt, rather than at the varying depth predicted by Sir George Airy. He wrote Isostasy (1927). |
