Recollections of Kirk Bryan: A biographical sketch

Abstract

To appreciate Kirk Bryan fully, one had to know him personally. His forte was relationships with people. He was a people's person from beginning to end. In the words of one observer, "he exuded human warmth." Kirk's scientific work was substantial but his still greater contribution to geomorphology was the host of able students he taught, inspired, and motivated. Although now passing from the scene, these people at their zenith were among the leaders in geomorphological research and teaching in North America. One of the higher honors attainable by scientists in the United States is the National Medal of Science, established by the Congress in 1959. Through 1991, 304 awards had been made, only 6 of which were to earth scientists. Out of that 6, one third were Kirk's students, a small statistic to be sure, but impressive testimony to Kirk's influence on budding scientists. It was about ten years after I finished graduate work at Harvard before I realized that Kirk was the best college teacher I had ever had. Kirk was so highly intuitive in his reasoning that many of his ideas seemed to float down from the heavens. This bothered me and created skepticism concerning many of his pronouncements. Consequently, I spent long hours searching the literature and developing my own thoughts with the objective of proving the good professor wrong. In most instances I ended up concluding that he was right, but I never understood why until I worked things out for myself. It finally dawned on me that Kirk had forced me to self-educate. I have since concluded that training students to self-educate should be a major objective of any college education -- hence my high regard for him as an educator.

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