Awards

National Academies - 1955

American Association for the Advancement of Science

About Carl Beck

Carl Wellington Beck was born in Batesville, Indiana on May 19, 1916 and graduated from Batesville High School in 1934. He attended DePauw University where he was a Rector Scholar and obtained his B.A. in chemistry in 1938. Following employment as a chemist with Smith, Kline, and French of Philadelphia, he undertook graduate studies in geology and mineralogy at Harvard University where he was an Austin Fellow and Woodward Fellow. He was awarded the M.A. degree in June, 1944 and the Ph.D. degree in June, 1946.

From September 1946 to June 1954 Professor Beck was a member of the faculty in the Department of Geology at the University of New Mexico where he taught courses and undertook research in mineralogy and petrology. Professor Beck joined the Department of Geology at Indiana University in September 1954 as professor of mineralogy. He taught courses at all levels in mineralogy and crystallography but also, at various times, in geochemistry, petrology, mineral resources, introductory geology, x-ray crystallography, and biomineralogy at the School of Dentistry in Indianapolis.

Carl Beck's publication list is lengthy and covers subjects in traditional mineralogy and crystallography, meteoritics, clay mineralogy and ceramics. In later years, he became an especially productive researcher in the field of biomineralogy and developed a national prominence as a result of fundamental studies with Joseph C. Muhler and others on the chemical and structural nature of hydroxyapatite and the effects of dental caries. Perhaps even more prominently widespread was his research with William P. Mulvaney, Robert K. Rhamey and others on the nature and origin of urinary and renal calculi.

Beck gave numerous invited lectures before medical groups and was elected an honorary member of the American Urological Association. He also was a fellow of the Mineralogical Society of America, the Geological Society of America, and the American Institute of Chemists and a member of the American Ceramic Society, the Geochemical Society, and the Mineralogical Society of London. He was elected to the vice-presidency of the Meteoritical Society and was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Beck died on March 20, 1971 at the age of 54.