Yochelson, Ellis L. 1928-2006

views updated

Yochelson, Ellis L. 1928-2006
(Ellis Leon Yochelson)

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born November 14, 1928, in Washington, DC; died of heart disease, August 30, 2006, in Washington, DC. Paleontologist, geologist, educator, and author. A longtime geologist and paleontologist for the U.S. Geological Survey, Yochelson was best known for his research on climactichnites and for his biography of Charles Doolittle Walcott. His bachelor's and master's degrees in geology came from the University of Kansas, and he completed his doctorate in 1955 at Columbia University. Yochelson joined the U.S. Geological Survey in 1952 and remained associated with it until 1985. He was based, however, at the Museum of Natural History, where he was a research associate. His fascination with climactichnites, a species that lived about five hundred million years ago, led to years of focused research. He determined that the strange, motorcycle tire-like tracks that were found fossilized in a quarry in Ontario were actually created by the climactichnite, a boneless animal that had managed to crawl onto land using two muscular flaps on its body. In 1993, he helped describe and draw a picture of what the primitive animal looked like. Yochelson was known, too, for his biography Charles Doolittle Walcott, Paleontologist, (1998) the result of forty years of research. Also an educator, Yochelson lectured at George Washington University in the early 1960s, the University of Maryland from 1966 to 1974, and other institutions throughout his career. Awarded the History of Geology Award in 2003, he was the author of The National Museum of Natural History (1985) and Smithsonian Institution Secretary, Charles Doolittle Walcott (2001).