Frederick John Vine (1939 – 2024)
A geophysicist whose work on oceanic magnetic anomalies ultimately led to the theory of plate tectonics
Fred Vine (© Geological Society of London Archive)
Frederick (Fred) Vine is best known for an idea he had as a graduate student at the University of Cambridge in 1963, which accounted for linear oceanic magnetic anomalies. This led to general acceptance of the concepts of seafloor spreading and continental drift, and then to the theory of plate tectonics. Together, these ideas resulted in the greatest change in Earth Science since James Hutton’s work in the early eighteenth century.
Innovative ideas
Fred’s interest in continental drift began when he was a schoolboy at Latymer Upper School, London, where he read a textbook discussing the fit of South America to Africa and the geological conundrum of whether the two continents had once been neighbours. He decided that this question had to be important and started looking for evidence.
During Fred’s third year studying Natural Sciences at St Johns College, University of Cambridge, several key lectures greatly excited him: those by Harry Hess on seafloor spreading and Sir Edward (Teddy) Bullard’s on geophysics. These influenced his research trajectory, with Fred joining the university’s Department of Geodesy and Geophysics in 1962. He was awarded the Shell Studentship, given to the most promising graduate student each year.
Drummond (Drum) Matthews became Fred’s PhD supervisor. Fred’s first task was interpreting a detailed bathymetric and magnetic survey that Drum had carried out over the Carlsberg Ridge in the northwest Indian Ocean. The magnetic anomaly map that Fred produced showed that one seamount in the survey was magnetised in the reverse direction to that of the present field and he linked this to Harry’s proposal of new seafloor forming by extension on ridge axes. Because of Teddy’s interest in the origin of the Earth’s magnetic field, he knew about field reversals and so was able to reassure Fred that his modelling was correct.
Though plate tectonics provides the formal framework for describing seafloor spreading, it was Fred and Drum’s proposal in 1963 that produced the revolution.
Magnetic anomalies
In 1965, Fred took up a position at Princeton University and collected a variety of magnetic profiles and surveys which he modelled using his and Drum’s proposal. By the autumn of 1966, both Fred and the geophysicists at the Lamont Geological Observatory, who had been working on the magnetic anomalies and earthquake focal mechanisms, were ready to show their results to a wider audience. At a small conference of 40 scientists held at the Goddard Institute in New York, two outstanding papers by Lynn Sykes and Fred showed that the evidence for seafloor spreading from seismology and magnetic anomalies was overwhelming. Though plate tectonics provides the formal framework for describing such motions, it was Fred and Drum’s proposal in 1963 that produced the revolution.
After five years at Princeton, Fred and his family were looking for a post at another university, preferably in the UK. He was appointed as a Reader in the School of Environmental Sciences at the relatively young University of East Anglia and took on his share of teaching and administration. Fred maintained his research related to the formation of the oceanic crust and was later a very successful Head of the School of Environmental Sciences.
Fred married Susan McCall in 1964 and is survived by her and their children, Rachel and Stephen.
By Dan McKenzie and Neil Chroston
