Portrait of George Kay
George Kay

George Frederick Kay was born to Joseph Sidney and Elizabeth Marshall Rae Kay on September 14, 1873, in Virginia, Ontario, was the fifth of seven children, descended from English and Scotch-Irish pioneers. He was the principal of the public schools in Zephyr, Ontario, from 1892 to 1894, and graduated from Owen Sound Collegiate Institute in 1896. Then he attended the University of Toronto, training in mineralogy, petrology, and economic geology. He received his BA in 1900, and his MA in 1902.

Following that, he worked for the Canadian government doing exploration work. In 1902 he married Bethea Hopper. They had three children: George Marshall (1904), Marjorie (1907), and Calvin (1912).

In 1904, George Kay moved his family to Kansas, where he became an assistant professor at the University of Kansas. In 1907, he received an appointment as a full professor of geology at the University of Iowa.

During those early years, prior to 1910, he also worked for the U. S. Geological Survey in Colorado, Oregon, California and Alaska. With J. S. Diller he mapped Ni, Cu and Au deposits in Oregon. He also mapped the Franciscan Complex, which was considered to be of minor importance at the time, but is significant to our understanding of plate tectonics.

At Iowa, his research largely focused on the glacial history of the state and the Pleistocene Epoch. He proposed the term “gumbotil” for some dark clays, which he thought were produced by chemical weathering of glacial tills, and used them to build a stratigraphic history of glaciations in Iowa.

In 1911, Samuel Calvin, who was chairman of the geology department and head of the state geological survey, died suddenly. George Kay was tapped to take over the duties of both positions. He was also working to complete his doctoral work at the University of Chicago, receiving his PhD in 1914.

“He was an excellent teacher, a distinguished administrator, a brilliant investigator and a clear and interesting writer” (A. C. Trowbridge, 1944). He was credited with over 70 published papers.

In 1917, he was additionally appointed dean of the College of Liberal Arts. In this role, he was responsible for adding schools of journalism, fine arts, letters, and religion to the liberal arts college.

George Kay was a member of the Iowa Academy of Sciences, and served as its president in 1928-1929. He was also an officer of the Geological Society of America and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He received an honorary PhD from Cornell College in 1935 and an honorary doctor of letters from the University of Toronto in 1936.

He resigned from the position of Iowa state geologist and head of the state geological survey in 1934, but continued as geology department chair and dean of the College of Liberal Arts until retiring in 1941.

He passed on July 19, 1943.

In His Own Words

  • Kay, G. F., 1907, Nickel deposits of Nickel Mountain, Oregon: U. S. Geol. Survey, Bull. 315, p. 120-127.
  • Kay, G. F., and Diller, J. S., 1909, Mineral resources of the Grants Pass Quadrangle and bordering districts: U. S. Geol. Survey, Bull. 380, p. 48- 79.
  • Kay, G. F., 1911, The Bering River coal field, Alaska: The Popular Science Monthly, November, p. 417-430.
  • Kay, G. F., 1911, Samuel Calvin: Science, v. 34, n. 865, p. 106-107.
  • Kay, G. F., 1916, Gumbotil: a new term in Pleistocene geology: Science, n. s., v. 44, p. 637-638.
  • Kay, G. F., and Pearce, J. N., 1920, The origin of gumbotil: Jour. Geol., v. 28, p. 89-125.
  • Kay, G. F., 1928, The relative ages of the Iowan and Illinoian drift sheets: Amer. Jour. Sci., 5th ser., v. 16, p. 497-518.
  • Kay, G. F., 1931, Classification and duration of the Pleistocene Period: Geol. Soc. Amer., Bull., v. 42, p. 425-466.
  • Kay, G. F., and Apfel, E. T., 1929, The pre-Illinoian Pleistocene geology of Iowa: Iowa Geo. Surv., Report, v. 34, p. 1-304, pl. 1 and 2.
  • Kay, G. F., and Graham, J. B., 1943, The Illinoisan and post Illinoian Pleistocene geology of Iowa: Iowa Geol. Surv., Report, v. 38, p. 11-212, pl. 2.

References

  • Trowbridge, A. C., 1944, In memoriam: George Frederick Kay: Iowa Acad. Sci., Proc., v. 51, p. 109-111.
  • Trowbridge, A. C., 1944, Memorial to George Frederick Kay: Geol. Soc. Amer., Proc., p. 169-176.
  • “George Frederick Kay” – Wikipedia UI libraries
  • encyclopedia.com (online listing)