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{{Short description|American geologist and educator (1843–1928)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
|name              = Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin
|image             = T.C.Chamberlin.gif
|image_size        =
|caption           = Chamberlin in the 1870s
|birth_date        = {{Birth date|1843|09|25}}
|birth_place       = [[Mattoon, Illinois]]
|death_date        = {{death-date and age|November 15, 1928|September 25, 1843}}
|death_place       = [[Chicago, Illinois]]
|residence         = 
|citizenship       = 
|nationality       = American
|field             = [[Geology]]
|work_institutions = [[Columbian University]]<br>[[University of Wisconsin]]<br>[[University of Chicago]]
|alma_mater        = [[Beloit College]] {{small|(A.B., 1866)}}<br>[[University of Michigan]]
|doctoral_advisor  = [[Alexander Winchell]]
|doctoral_students = 
|known_for         = [[Chamberlin–Moulton planetesimal hypothesis]]
|author_abbrev_bot = 
|author_abbrev_zoo = 
|influences        = 
|influenced        = 
|prizes            = [[Hayden Memorial Geological Award]] {{small|(1920)}}<br>[[Penrose Gold Medal]] <small>(1924)</small><br />[[Penrose Medal]] <small>(1927)</small>
|religion          = 
|footnotes         = 
|signature         = Signature of Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin (1843–1928).png
|children          = [[Rollin Thomas Chamberlin]] (1881–1948), geologist and skeptic of [[Alfred Wegener|Wegener]]'s [[continental drift]] hypothesis
}}
'''Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|r|aʊ|d|ər|}};<ref>''Webster's New Biographical Dictionary'' (Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1988; {{ISBN|9780877795438}}), p. 1099.</ref> September 25, 1843 – November 15, 1928) was an American [[geologist]] and [[educator]]. In 1893 he founded the ''[[Journal of Geology]]'', of which he was editor for many years.

==Biography==
Chamberlin was born September 25, 1843, in [[Mattoon, Illinois|Mattoon]], Illinois. When he was three years old his family moved north to near [[Beloit, Wisconsin|Beloit]], Wisconsin. His father was a [[Methodist]] circuit minister and farmer. He attended a preparatory academy before entering [[Beloit College]], where he received a classical education in Greek and Latin, while becoming interested in natural science. While a student at Beloit he directed a church choir and participated in athletics and debate.

After graduation from [[Beloit College]] in 1866, Chamberlin worked for two years as a teacher and later principal in a high school near Beloit. He was married to Alma Wilson in 1867.

In 1868–1869, Chamberlin spent a year taking graduate courses, including geology, at the [[University of Michigan]] to strengthen his scientific background. Subsequently (1869–1873), he became professor of natural science at [[University of Wisconsin–Whitewater|Whitewater Normal School]] in Wisconsin. He joined the Beloit faculty in 1873, where he was professor of geology, [[zoology]], and [[botany]]. In 1873 he also became one of several part-time participants in conducting a comprehensive geological survey of [[Wisconsin]]. His [[geological map]]ping work in southeastern Wisconsin, a region mantled with thick [[glacial deposit]]s, led him to recognize multiple episodes of [[glaciation]] during the [[Pleistocene]]. His terminology for [[glacial stage]]s in North America is still in use, with minor modifications.

In 1875 he started a business with his brother and sold spring water, a popular brand at the time.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.beloit.edu/archives/documents/archival_documents/chamberlin_springs/|title=Chamberlin Springs: Rest & Research Since 1875|publisher=Beloit College}}</ref>

In 1876 Chamberlin became chief geologist for the Wisconsin geological survey, supervising the completion of the survey and the publication of the four-volume report, for which he authored sections on glacial deposits, [[Paleozoic]] and [[Precambrian]] [[bedrock]] geology, [[Carbonate hosted lead zinc ore deposits|lead-zinc ore deposits]], [[artesian well]]s, and [[soil]]s. The project brought him national attention and led to his appointment as head of the glacial division of the [[US Geological Survey]] in 1881. He later was president of the [[University of Wisconsin–Madison|University of Wisconsin]] (1887 to 1892).

In 1890,<ref>{{cite journal|author=Chamberlin, T. C.|year=1890|title=The method of multiple working hypotheses|journal=Science |volume=15 |issue=366|pages=92–96|doi=10.1126/science.ns-15.366.92|pmid=17782687|bibcode=1890Sci....15R..92. }} (see 1965 reprint for free fulltext)</ref> and again in 1897,<ref>{{cite journal|author=Chamberlin, T. C.|year=1897|title=Studies for students: the method of multiple working hypotheses|journal=Journal of Geology |volume=5 |issue=8|pages=837–848|jstor=30054868|doi=10.1086/607980|bibcode=1897JG......5..837C |doi-access=free}}</ref> Chamberlin wrote "The method of multiple working hypotheses", in which he advocated the importance of simultaneously evaluating several hypotheses, rejecting those that conflict with available data, and ending with the one hypothesis supported by the data. This stood in contrast to what he called the ''single ruling theory'', which encouraged scientists to find supporting data and not challenge it with difficult tests. The paper is considered a landmark <ref>{{cite journal|last = Elliot|first = L.P.|author2=B. W. Brook |title = Revisiting Chamberlin: multiple working hypotheses for the 21st century|journal = BioScience|date=2007|volume=57|issue = 7|pages=608&ndash;614|doi=10.1641/B570708|doi-access=}}</ref> on the scientific method, was an inspiration for the approach called [[strong inference]], and was reprinted in 1965.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Chamberlin, T. C.|year=1965|title=The method of multiple working hypotheses|journal=Science |volume=148 |issue=3671|pages=754–759|doi=10.1126/science.148.3671.754|pmid=17748786|jstor=1716334|bibcode=1965Sci...148..754C |s2cid=7481185|url=http://webhome.auburn.edu/~tds0009/Articles/Chamberlain%201965.pdf|url-access=}} (free fulltext)</ref>

In 1892 Chamberlin accepted the offer to organize a department of geology at the new [[University of Chicago]], where he remained as a professor until 1918.  From 1898 to 1914 he was president of the [[Chicago Academy of Sciences]].

In 1899 Chamberlin wrote, ''An Attempt to Frame a Working Hypothesis of the Cause of Glacial Periods on an Atmospheric Basis'', and developed at length the idea that changes in climate could result from changes in the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide, and wrote about [[climate engineering|climate actions]]:
{{blockquote|When the temperature is rising after a glacial episode, dissociation is promoted, and the ocean gives forth its carbon dioxide at an increased rate, and thereby assists in accelerating the amelioration of climate.

A study of the life of the geological periods seems to indicate that there were very notable fluctuations in the total mass of living matter. To be sure there was a reciprocal relation between the life of the land and that of the sea, so that when the latter was extended upon the continental platforms and greatly augmented, the former was contracted, but notwithstanding this it seems clear that the sum of life activity fluctuated notably during the ages. It is believed that on the whole it was greatest at the periods of sea extension and mild climates, and least at the times of disruption and climatic intensification. This factor then acted antithetically to the carbonic acid freeing previously noted, and, so far as it went, tended to offset its effects

It now becomes necessary to assign agencies capable of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at a rate sufficiently above the normal rate of supply, at certain times, to produce glaciation; and on the other hand, capable of restoring it to the atmosphere at certain other times in sufficient amounts to produce mild climates.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://archive.org/details/jstor-30055497|author=Chamberlin, T. C.|year=1899|title=An Attempt to Frame a Working Hypothesis of the Cause of Glacial Periods on an Atmospheric Basis|journal=Journal of Geology |volume=7 |issue=8|pages=751–787|doi=10.1086/608524|bibcode=1899JG......7..751C|doi-access=}}</ref>}}

Chamberlin was elected to the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1901 and the United States [[National Academy of Sciences]] in 1903.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-02-09 |title=Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/thomas-chrowder-chamberlin |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Thomas C. Chamberlin |url=https://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/20001765.html |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=www.nasonline.org}}</ref>

In 1905, Chamberlin and [[Forest Ray Moulton]] developed a theory of the formation of the [[Solar System]] that challenged the [[Pierre-Simon Laplace|Laplacian]] [[nebular hypothesis]].  Their theory, the [[Chamberlin-Moulton planetesimal hypothesis]], received favorable support for almost a third of a century, but passed out of favor by the late 1930s.  It ultimately was discarded in the 1940s by the realization it was incompatible with the [[angular momentum]] of [[Jupiter]]. A portion of the theory stating that smaller objects &mdash; [[planetesimal]]s &mdash; gradually collided to build the planets by [[accretion theory|accretion]] is still well-regarded. From his theories and other geological evidence he concluded that Earth was much older than assumed by [[Lord Kelvin]] (ca 100 million years) at the time. His speculations about the source of energy for such a long-lived Sun were prescient, involving the ability of the Sun to somehow extract energy from the inner structures of the atom.

In 1905, Chamberlin was elected to the [[American Philosophical Society]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Thomas+C.+Chamberlin&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref>

[[File:ED Burton, TC Chamberlin, J Beech, YT Wang and RT Chamberlin.jpg|thumb|240px|From left to right, [[Ernest DeWitt Burton|E. D. Burton]], T. C. Chamberlin, [[Joseph Beech]], Y. T. Wang (interpreter), and [[Rollin Thomas Chamberlin|R. T. Chamberlin]] (T. C. Chamberlin's son) at [[Santai County]], [[Sichuan]], during an exploratory trip through China in 1909 as part of the Oriental Educational Investigation Commission.]]
In 1909, he and his son [[Rollin Thomas Chamberlin]] traveled to the [[Eastern world|East]] as members of the Oriental Educational Investigation Commission led by [[Ernest DeWitt Burton]], and supported by [[John D. Rockefeller]] to reconnoiter the Eastern world as a potential site for the humanitarian projects of the nascent [[Rockefeller Foundation]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/science-and-technology/geology-and-oceanography-biographies/thomas-chrowder-chamberlin |title=Chamberlin, Thomas Chrowder |last=Mather |first=Kirtley F. |author-link=Kirtley F. Mather |date=May 23, 2018 |website=[[encyclopedia.com]] |access-date=April 24, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/scrc/findingaids/view.php?eadid=ICU.SPCL.BURTON |title=Guide to the Ernest DeWitt Burton Papers 1875-1969 |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2007 |website=[[Regenstein Library|lib.uchicago.edu]] |access-date=April 24, 2023}}</ref>

Chamberlin was awarded the inaugural [[Penrose Gold Medal]] of the [[Society of Economic Geologists]] in 1924,<ref name=seg>{{cite web |url=http://www.segweb.org/SEG/_About_SEG/_Medals_and_Awards/Penrose_Gold_Medal.aspx |title=Penrose Gold Medal |publisher=Society of Economic Geologists |access-date=15 May 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121228070411/http://www.segweb.org/SEG/_About_SEG/_Medals_and_Awards/Penrose_Gold_Medal.aspx |archive-date=28 December 2012 }}</ref> and the inaugural [[Penrose Medal]] of the [[Geological Society of America]] in 1927.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.geosociety.org/awards/past.htm#penrose |title=Penrose Medalists |access-date=May 15, 2012 |publisher=The Geological Society of America, Inc.}}</ref> He was president of the Geological Society of America in 1894.<ref>Eckel, Edwin, 1982, GSA Memoir 155, The Geological Society of America — Life History of a Learned Society, {{ISBN|0-8137-1155-X}}.</ref>

Chamberlin remained active professionally up until his death in [[Chicago, Illinois|Chicago]] on November 15, 1928.

==Legacy==
His papers are housed at the University of Chicago archives and the Beloit College archives. The Beloit College archives also contain the papers of his son, Rollin T. Chamberlin (1881-1948), who was also a geologist, and later chaired the geology department at the University of Chicago.<ref>Beloit College Archives, {{cite web|url=http://www.beloit.edu/~archives/documents/archival_collections/alumni/thomas_chamberlin.php|title=Thomas C. Chamberlin}}</ref> There are buildings named for him on the Beloit College and University of Wisconsin–Madison campuses as well as a house in [[Burton-Judson Courts]] at [[The University of Chicago]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://housing.sites.uchicago.edu/Chamberlin-house|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140103232209/http://housing.sites.uchicago.edu/Chamberlin-house|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 3, 2014|title=Chamberlin House|access-date=January 3, 2014}}</ref> The [[Chamberlin (lunar crater)|lunar crater Chamberlin]] and a [[Impact crater|crater]] on [[Mars]]<ref name=deVaucouleurs1975>{{cite journal | title=The new Martian nomenclature of the International Astronomical Union | display-authors=1 | last1=de Vaucouleurs | first1=G. | last2=Blunck | first2=J. | last3=Davies | first3=M. | last4=Dollfus | first4=A. | last5=Koval | first5=I. K. | last6=Kuiper | first6=G. P. | last7=Masursky | first7=H. | last8=Miyamoto | first8=S. | last9=Moroz | first9=V. I. | last10=Sagan | first10=Carl | last11=Smith | first11=Bradford | journal=Icarus | volume=26 | issue=1 | date=September 1975 | pages=85−98 | doi=10.1016/0019-1035(75)90146-3 | bibcode=1975Icar...26...85D }}</ref> are named in his honor. He is the namesake of [[Mount Chamberlin (California)|Mount Chamberlin]] in California.  A 42 ton rock, a Precambrian glacial erratic, called the Chamberlin Rock sat on Observatory Hill at the University of Wisconsin Madison campus for over 100 years, until 2021 when it was moved to a university property on [[Lake Kegonsa]], a glacial lake.<ref>{{cite web | title=UW-Madison moves 42-ton boulder after effort from students of color | url=https://spectrumnews1.com/wi/milwaukee/news/2021/08/06/chamberlin-rock-moved }}</ref>

==Works==
* ''Outline of a Course of Oral Instruction'' (1872)
* ''Geology of Wisconsin: Survey of 1873-1879'' (Contributed and edited second volume in 1877)
* Preliminary paper on the terminal moraine of the second glacial epoch (U.S. Geological Survey, 1882) 
* [http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001520289 The rock scorings of the great ice invasions] (U.S. Geological Survey, 1886)
* {{cite journal |year=1890 |title=The method of multiple working hypotheses |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=15 |issue=366 |pages=92–96 | doi=10.1126/science.ns-15.366.92 |pmid=17782687 |bibcode=1890Sci....15R..92. |last1=Chamberlin |first1=T. C. }} (Reprinted in 1965: {{cite journal |date=May 1965 |title=The method of multiple working hypotheses: With this method the dangers of parental affection for a favorite theory can be circumvented |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=148 |issue=3671 |pages=754–759 |pmid=17748786 |jstor=1716334 |doi=10.1126/science.148.3671.754 |s2cid=7481185 |last1=Chamberlin |first1=T. C. |bibcode=1965Sci...148..754C }})
* [http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001488672 ''Contribution to the Theory of Glacial Motion''] (1904)
* With [[Rollin D. Salisbury|R. D. Salisbury]], ''Geology'' (three volumes, 1907–09)
* ''The Origin of the Earth'' (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press; London: At the Cambridge University Press, 1916.)
* "[http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/chamberlin-thomas-c.pdf Biographical Memoir of Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin: 1843-1928]". In ''Biographical Memoirs, vol. 15''. Washington: National Academy of Sciences.

==See also==
*[[History of climate change science]]
*[[wikibooks:Geological Features of Wisconsin|''Geological Features of Wisconsin'']]
*[[Ice Age Trail]]
*[[Strong inference]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal | author = Dott Robert H. Jr | year = 2006 | title = Rock Stars: Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin (1843–1928) | journal = GSA Today | volume = 16 | issue = 10| pages = 30–31 | doi = 10.1130/1052-5173(2006)16[30:RSTCC]2.0.CO;2 | bibcode = 2006GSAT...16j..30D }}
* Railsback,  L. Bruce. "[http://www.gly.uga.edu/railsback/11111misc/MWHReprise2.pdf T. C. Chamberlin's 'Method of Multiple Working Hypotheses': An encapsulation for modern students] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200109024607/http://www.gly.uga.edu/railsback/11111misc/MWHReprise2.pdf |date=January 9, 2020 }}".

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{wikisource|works=or}}
*{{Internet Archive author|sname=Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin}}
*[https://www.beloit.edu/archives/assets/Chamberlin_Finding_Aid_MC_31.pdf Chamberlin holdings at Beloit College Archives]
*[http://dcms.beloit.edu/cdm4/browse.php?CISOROOT=%2Fchamber Expedition photographs from Beloit College Digital Collections]
*[http://academic.emporia.edu/aberjame/histgeol/chamber/chamber.htm Biography by James S. Aber]
* {{Librivox author |id=11437}}
* {{Find a Grave}}
* [https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/scrc/findingaids/view.php?eadid=ICU.SPCL.CHAMBERLINTC Guide to the Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin Papers 1878-1932] at the [https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/scrc/ University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center]

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{{succession box | title=[[List of Presidents and Chancellors of the University of Wisconsin–Madison|President]] of the [[University of Wisconsin–Madison|University of Wisconsin]] | before= [[John Bascom]] | after = [[Charles Kendall Adams|Charles K. Adams]] | years=1887-1892}}
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{{Presidents of the Geological Society of America}}
{{Presidents of the American Association for the Advancement of Science}}
{{University of Wisconsin–Madison leaders}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chamberlin, Thomas Chrowder}}
[[Category:1843 births]]
[[Category:1928 deaths]]
[[Category:Leaders of the University of Wisconsin-Madison]]
[[Category:American geologists]]
[[Category:American science writers]]
[[Category:Beloit College alumni]]
[[Category:Beloit College faculty]]
[[Category:University of Wisconsin&ndash;Whitewater faculty]]
[[Category:People from Mattoon, Illinois]]
[[Category:American science teachers]]
[[Category:University of Chicago faculty]]
[[Category:University of Michigan alumni]]
[[Category:People from Beloit, Wisconsin]]
[[Category:Penrose Medal winners]]
[[Category:American academic journal editors]]
[[Category:Writers from Illinois]]
[[Category:Writers from Wisconsin]]
[[Category:Presidents of the American Association for the Advancement of Science]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Geological Society of America]]
[[Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society]]