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The 1985 Joseph A. Cushman Award
Dagmar M. Rauser-Chernousova |
These studies also paved the way for the discovery and geological understanding of the major petroleum fields in southern Bashkiria. These oil fields were paramount in supplying Soviet needs during the Second World War as the supply of petroleum from oil fields in the Caspian, Baku, and Ukrainian regions were lost to invading forces. For this work and other efforts, Dr. Rauzer-Chernousova was awarded the Fighting Order of the Red Star. Prior to studying Carboniferous and Permian foraminiferal problems, Dr. Rauzer-Chernousova studied the geology of an area near Sevestopol in Crimea, investigated Lower Caroniferous ammonoids from Fergania, and the chemical aspects of chlorophyll in Black Sea sediments. Also included in this early series of diverse studies is a classical statistical study of variability in the modem bivalve, Cardium edule. Her keen interests also include people. She welcomed visitors to the Micropaleontological Laboratory of the Geological Institute of the USSR in Moscow and enjoyed discussing carefully and fully their work and the work of the Micropaleontological Laboratory. Visitors were questioned in a serious and remarkably scientifically open way about their views on the prevailing hypotheses in paleontology and geology, and were told about the general scheme of Soviet micropaleontology over which Dr, Rauzer-Chernousova had considerable influence. These interests in people and their work also extended to the people in the regions where Dr. Rauzer-Chernousova had studied. When I visited in the early 1970's she was extremely interested in Canadian Eskimos. She had spent several geological field seasons among the Eskimos of Novaya Zemblya and had just finished reading a Canadian author's account of Canadian Eskimos. She was very impressed by the similarities of the peoples she had met and their Canadian counterparts. She was also a great organizer. She established, as part of the Micropaleontological Laboratory's contributions to the Soviet paleontological efforts, a card index system of the world's micropaleontological literature and, perhaps more importantly, a microfilm system of species illustrations and descriptions for all published microfossils. These were reproduced on 35mm film and distributed to all of the Geological Institute's (and perhaps other institutes') field offices, approximately 200 in total. This system included subjective synonymies, remarks, etc. for the use of practicing micropaleontologists. This dissemination of micropaleontological data aided considerably in making accessible to all Soviet micropaleontologists the current micropaleontology literature of other countries. No small feat at all. Dr. Rauzer-Chernousova was a coeditor of and major contributor with A. D. Mikluko-Maklai and S. E. Rozovskaya, to the Soviet treatise "Osnovnye Paleontologii" volume on "Protista." She also was instrumental in organizing the work of most micropaleontologists throughout the Soviet Union in her role as Chairperson of the Committee of Micropaleontology. Dr. Rauzer-Chernousova is well recognized within the USSR. In addition to the Fighting Order of the Red Star, she also has been awarded the Lenin Medal, the Karpinsky Medal, and the Red Star for Labor. The Joseph A. Cushman Award is her first award for foraminiferal studies outside the USSR. We thank Professor Rauzer-Chernousova for her long and devoted efforts to the study of foraminifera, in making the knowledge of others available within her country, and in encouraging and insisting on sound and fruitful scientific studies among her colleagues. Dr. Rauzer-Chernousova was the founder of Voprosy Mikropaleontologii and that journal dedicated the 1966 edition (Volume 10) to her 70th birthday celebration. That volume includes a listing of her papers and honors to that date. She was 90 on 19 March 1985, and, I might add, still interested in finding a satisfactory base to the Permian System.
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