John West Wells (July 15, 1907 – January 12, 1994) was an American paleontologist, biologist and geologist who focused his research on corals.
He was notable for, among other things, proving that the rotational period of the earth undergoes periodic changes. The National Academies of Science said that Wells "made an indelible mark on the world of paleontology." The Independent called Wells "the leading authority on modern and fossil corals, a noteworthy contributor on coral reefs and atolls". Wells was Professor of Geology, Ohio State University, Professor of Geology, Cornell University, President, Paleontological Society, a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
Early life
Wells was bom July 15, 1907, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He went to school in Homer, New York, 20 miles northeast of Ithaca. He took his B.S. degree at the University of Pittsburgh, majoring in chemistry. However he soon became fascinated by geology, under the guidance of Ransom E. Sommers and Henry Leighton.
Early career
Wells became an instructor of geology at the University of Texas from 1929 to 1931, whilst studying for his M.A. from Cornell University in 1930, with a special interest in paleontology. He took his Ph.D. from Cornell in 1933 under Gilbert D. Harris.
During 1933–1934, Wells was a National Research Council Fellow, studying paleontology at the British Museum (Natural History), in London, the French National Museum of Natural History (Paris), and the Natural History Museum of Berlin. Upon his return to the U.S., Wells worked with T. Wayland Vaughan in Washington, D.C. from 1935 to 1937, and "looked for a job." Together they revised a volume on Scleractinia (1943). Wells taught at the State Normal School at Fredonia, New York (now SUNY) from 1937 to 1938, and then was a Professor in Geology at Ohio State University from 1938 to 1948. At Ohio State University, he would begin researching the history of geology. Wells served in the military in France and Germany during 1944–45 in the Office of Strategic Services, and later assisted with studies assessing war damage and in the recovery of coral literature from bombed or burning buildings in Germany. His work with OSS assessed the state of universities and museums in France and Germany, following the war.
Later career
Wells returned to Cornell in 1948 as professor of geology. He served as department chairman from 1962 to 1965. In 1946 he began working with the U.S. Geological Survey. He was involved in research into various Pacific islands, including field work in the resurvey of Bikini Atoll (1947) and was attached to the Pacific Science Board's Arno Atoll Expedition (1950). He would continue to identify, describe, and analyze the Recent and Tertiary corals from these and other expeditions even in his retirement. Many of his publications were the direct result of this Pacific island work.
During 1954, Wells was granted a Fulbright lecturing position at the University of Queensland, spending many months studying corals of the Great Barrier Reef. This period of time would establish a productive working relationship for he and Dorothy Hill of the University of Queensland, who was the leading Australian expert on reef geology. Wells and Dorothy Hill would jointly prepare nine sections on the Coelenterata for the Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology published in 1956. Wells would also prepare sections on Scleractinia for the Treatise.