LANE, ALFRED CHURCH

born Jan. 29, 1863, Boston died April 15, 1948, New York City U.S. geologist and educator who originated, promoted, and directed research on the determination of the age of the Earth. He was petrographer, assistant state geologist, and state geologist for the Michigan State Geological Survey from 1889 to 1909. He served as professor of geology and mineralogy at Tufts University, Medford, Mass., from 1909, resigning in 1936 in protest against a state teachers' oath. Lane was chairman of the committee on the measurement of geologic time of the National Research Council (192246) and advanced worldwide research on this subject. He was among the first of the world's scientists to undertake the study of neutrons, and in 1926, with German physicist Otto Hahn, he instituted an international plan for exchanging scientific information on nuclear fission. He was the first American to receive information of Hahn's splitting the uranium atom in 1938.