Mathez, Edmond A.

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MATHEZ, Edmond A.

PERSONAL:

Male.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Earth and Planetary Sciences Department, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th St., New York, NY 10024-5192.

CAREER:

Geologist. Earth and Planetary Sciences Department, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, curator.

WRITINGS:

(Editor) Earth: Inside Out ("American Museum of Natural History" series), New Press (New York, NY), 2001.

(With James D. Webster) The Earth Machine: The Science of a Dynamic Planet (companion to Hall of Planet Earth exhibit), Columbia University Press (New York, NY), 2004.

Consulting editor, Martin Holden The Encyclopedia of Gemstones and Minerals, Facts on File (New York, NY), 1991.

SIDELIGHTS:

Edmond A. Mathez is curator of the Earth and Planetary Sciences Department of the American Museum of Natural History and was a developer of the Hall of Planet Earth exhibit. Mathez is a geologist who studies rocks crystallized from magma or molten rock. He concentrates on the large igneous rock sites in the Stillwater Complex of Montana and the Bushveld Complex in South Africa, both of which contain concentrations of ores that have economic value. Mathez's research ranges from mapping deep platinum mines to laboratory experimentation to determine why platinum is concentrated in the sulfide mineral of these rocks.

Mathez has edited Earth: Inside Out, part of a museum series, and, with James D. Webster, co-authored The Earth Machine: The Science of a Dynamic Planet, a companion to the Hall of Planet Earth exhibit. The Earth Machine is structured in a question-and-answer format, and contains research data, vignettes, and personal stories, accompanied by photographs, maps, charts, diagrams, and figures. Included are some of the best-known geological structures, including the Alps and the Grand Canyon, and the authors take readers from the molten center of Earth to the planet's outermost limits, explaining why our planet has oceans and continents and explaining geological events such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.

Booklist reviewer Gilbert Taylor felt that the authors "furnish one of their stated audiences—geology teachers—with a fine example for exciting students."