Norman L. Bowen Geochemistry and Geochronology A founding father
of experimental petrology. Bowen brought together the
disciplines of geology and chemistry to create the new science
of experimental petrology, the experimental study of rocks.
Already an amateur geologist, he graduated from Queens
University with a scholarship which he took to MIT, studying
under fellow Canadian Reginald A. Daly. The 1910s and 1920s were
the right time for the development of a new stage in the
experimental examination of geological formations. Crustal rocks
had been studied all over Europe and North America, and
speculation about how the earth's crust had formed, especially
with regard to igneous and metamorphic rock, was rampant. In
addition, many experimental techniques to create high
temperatures were just starting to be developed. The melting
point of anorthite was already well established and used as a
point for thermocouple calibration. Bowen undertook to
experimentally recreate the temperature and composition regimes
in