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J. Harlan Bretz (1882 - 1981) was an American geologist, best known for his research that led to the acceptance of the Missoula Floods. He was born to a farmer in Saranac, Michigan, as the oldest of five children. He earned a degree in biology from Albion College, in 1906, where he also met his wife Fanny Chalis. Thereafter he became interested in the geology of western Washington state, and enrolled at the University of Chicago, receiving his Ph.D. in geology in 1913.
Bretz published his paper in 1923, arguing that the channeled scablands in Eastern Washington were caused by massive flooding in the distant past. This view, which was seen as arguing for a Catastrophic explanation of the geology, was against the prevailing view of Uniformitarianism, and Bretz's views were initially discredited. However, as the nature of the Ice Age was better understood, Bretz's original research was vindicated, and by the 1950s his insights were vindicated. He was awarded the Penrose Medal by the Geological Society of America in 1979 for his work.
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