New Mexico Mineral Symposium — Abstracts

Robert Harrison Weber was born and raised in the relatively small town of Wauseon in northwestern Ohio. Beginning at a very early age he displayed a fascination with all things relative to the earth and the archaeological artifacts left behind by prehistoric peoples. A bicycle provided the means to visit every quarry, sand pit, and rock outcrop within a 25-mi radius and also quick access to the local Carnegie Public Library where, as family legend has it, he devoured every book he could find on exploration, natural history, and geology. His collection of rocks, fossils, and archaeological materials grew to a size such that his father fretted over the space required to store the collection even then. Time would serve only to convert Bob from an amateur pack rat into a professional one!

Bob graduated from Wauseon High School in 1937 and followed up with a Bachelor of Science with distinction from The Ohio State University in 1941. Pearl Harbor, as it did for so many Americans, put Bob's educational plans on hold, and it wasn't until January 1946 that he was back on track at the University of Arizona where, in June 1950, he was awarded a Ph.D. in geology with minors in both mining and metallurgical engineering. Director Eugene Callaghan recognized his many talents and brought him to the New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources in Socorro where he embarked upon a multi-faceted and remarkable career spanning 35 yrs. Hardly a phase of the earth sciences evaded his inquisitive mind. This tribute will examine them in some detail.