Hans Cloos facts for kids

Hans Cloos (born November 8, 1885 – died September 26, 1951) was a very important German scientist. He was a structural geologist. This means he studied how the Earth's crust changes shape and how rocks are formed and moved.

Early Life and Studies

Hans Cloos was born in Magdeburg, Germany. He earned his doctorate degree in 1910 from Freiburg University. After his studies, he worked in places like Indonesia and Namibia. He continued this work until First World War started. During the war, his geology skills were used on the western front.

Post-War Research

After the war, Hans Cloos began to study plutons. Plutons are large bodies of igneous rock that form when magma cools and hardens deep within the Earth's crust. He looked at their inner structure. In 1919, he became a professor of geology at the University of Breslau.

His younger brother, Ernst Cloos, also became a famous geologist. Ernst studied geology at Breslau under Hans. Later, he became a professor at Johns Hopkins University in the United States.

In 1926, Hans Cloos moved from Breslau. He became a geology professor at the University of Bonn. He also took more trips to explore geological features. These trips included visits to the Scandinavian region, England, and North America.

Contributions to Geology

Professor Hans Cloos made important studies about how rocks change shape. This included how granite rocks are affected by tectonics. Tectonics is the study of how the Earth's crust moves and deforms.

He used small-scale models to understand how faults work. Faults are cracks in the Earth's crust where rocks have moved past each other. He also looked at how continents developed their structure over time. Hans Cloos was also known for his artistic talents. He enjoyed music and was a skilled draftsman, meaning he was good at drawing detailed plans and maps.

Hans Cloos passed away in Bonn, West Germany, in 1951.

The Hans Cloos Medal

The Hans Cloos medal is a special award. The International Association for Engineering Geology and the Environment (IAEG) has given it out since 1977. It is given to an engineering geologist who has done outstanding work. This award is usually given every two years during an international meeting of the IAEG.

Who Receives the Medal?

The person who receives the medal should be famous around the world. They must have made a big contribution to engineering geology. This could be through their written papers. It could also be by helping to develop engineering geology or the IAEG in their own country.

Since 2002, the winner of the medal also gives a lecture. This lecture is called the Hans Cloos lecture. After the lecture, the winner is asked to write a scientific paper based on their talk. This paper might then be published in the Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment.

Past Winners

Here are some of the past winners of the Hans Cloos medal:

Year	Winner	Country
1977	Quido Záruba	Czechoslovakia
1989	David J. Varnes	USA
2000	Paul G. Marinos	Greece
2010	Martin Culshaw	United Kingdom
2018	Runqiu Huang	China

Honors and Recognition

Hans Cloos has been honored in several ways:

• A wrinkle ridge on the Moon is named after him. It is called Dorsum Cloos. A wrinkle ridge is a type of long, narrow hill found on the surface of the Moon.
• In 2006, Cloos was mentioned in a book called Bedrock: Writers on the Wonders of Geology. This book looks at how writers have honored Earth's geological features.

Images for kids

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  A memorial plaque for Hans Cloos.