WILLIAM CHARLES BELL
(1911-1979)
Charles "Charlie" Bell was born on November 1, 1911, in Missoula, Montana. He
earned bachelor's and master's degrees at Montana State University in 1934 and
1936, respectively, and was awarded a PhD from the University of Michigan in
1939.
Bell was an Instructor at UT-Austin in 1940-41. After serving in the armed
forces during World War II, he taught from 1946 to 1953 at the University of
Minnesota. He joined the permanent faculty of UT-Austin as Professor in 1953,
where he taught stratigraphy, invertebrate paleontology, and photographic
techniques applied to paleontology until his retirement following an
incapacitating stroke in 1972. Dr. Bell was a strong advocate of proper use of
stratigraphic principles and the Stratigraphic Code. Even after retirement, he
would attend Technical Sessions presentations of stratigraphic topics and
chastise speakers who made goofs in stratigraphic nomenclature or procedure.
During his active years each spring Bell led his new graduate students on a
field trip to key Pennsylvanian outcrops in the Llano region. This trip
inevitably ended in Ciudad Acuņa, Mexico, and this leg of the field trip was
considered an important cultural event by many students. Dr. Bell supervised 16
MA students and 7 PhD students. Several of his students became leaders in
academe and industry.
Bell was skilled in several aspects of photography in addition to the
professional skill of photographing small fossils. He had a large file of candid
photos of famous geologists that he met at national and international geology
meetings.
Dr. Bell’s research interests included Cambrian, Ordovician, and Pennsylvanian
stratigraphy. He co-authored Early Upper Cambrian Faunas of
Central Montana (1944) and published a number of articles in the Journal of
Paleontology and in the Geological Society of America Bulletin. He was a member
of the Paleontological Society and the American Association of Petroleum
Geologists.
Professor Emeritus Charles Bell died on July 3, 1979 at age 67.
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