Marland P. Billings

Marland Pratt Billings was an American structural geologist who lived from 1902 to 1996 and was recognized as one of the greatest authorities on North American geology, spending nearly his entire academic career at Harvard University after joining its faculty in 1930 and retiring to emeritus status in 1972. His research addressed the structural geology of the Appalachian Highlands, with detailed surveys of New Hampshire and surrounding regions, and in the 1950s he studied bedrock geology exposed by tunnel construction in the Boston area, alongside international fieldwork in Iceland, Japan and Australia. He served as president of the Geological Society of America in 1959 and was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1938 and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. His books include Structural Geology in 1942 and Geology of New Hampshire in 1956. He received the Penrose Medal in 1987.