Born of Floyd Ford Ewing and Hope Hamilton Ewing at Lockney, Texas, on May 12, little did anyone surmise the great future that posterity held in store for William Maurice Ewing.
     He is the oldest of seven children. Members of his family recognized that he was a youth of unusual abilities, and his brothers and sisters were sure of it when he was featured as a magician in a performance at the Lockney High School Auditorium. He began early to collect worn-out jalopies and electrical paraphernalia in the community to use as laboratory material for the development of his mechanical and electrical genius. The Superintendent of Lockney High School, Mr. John J. Wilson, was quick to recognize that young Ewing was a prodigy and encouraged him in his interest in mathematics and physics. He graduated from high school at the tender age of fifteen, and Mr. Wilson was able to secure for him admission to Rice Institute from this small, unaccredited high school on his statement that he would match Ewing against the best that Rice had.
     In the autumn of 1922, he left his home near Amarillo, Texas, for Houston on an antiquated motorcycle which failed him en route. He then hitched a ride on a freight car. After several brushes with the freight car traveling public, he arrived at Rice Institute in Houston; and this point might be considered the beginning of his phenomenal career.
     He was elected Hohenthal Scholar at Rice Institute in 1923 and graduated in 1926 with honors in mathematics and physics. He was then elected to a fellowship in physics which he held for the three ensuing years and in the following year, 1927, he received the M.A. degree. Four years later, in 1931, he received his Ph.D. degree after presentation of a thesis entitled, " Calculation of Ray Paths from Seismic Time Curves."
     He was Instructor in Physics at the University of Pittsburgh, 1929-1930; Instructor in Physics, 1930-1936; and Assistant Professor of Physics, Lehigh University, 1936-1940; Associate Professor of Geology, Lehigh University, 1940-1944; Research Associate, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 1940-1950; Associate Professor of Geology, 1944-1947, and Professor of Geology, Columbia University, 1947 to date; Director, Lamont Geological Observatory (Columbia University), 1949 to date; and Associate in Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 1950 to date.
     He has served scientific and professional societies in various capacities, some of which are as follows: Vice-President, American Geophysical Union, 1953-1956; President, Seismological Society of America, 1955-1957; Member, Advisory Committee on Mineral Resources, National Science Foundation, 1954 to date; Member, Panels on Seismology and Gravity and Oceanography, International Geophysical Year, 1955 to date; and President, American Geophysical Union, 1956-1959.
     He has received many degrees and honors, including the Sc.D. from Washington and Lee University in 1949 and from the University of Denver in 1953; Arthur L. Day Medalist, 1949; Joesph Henry Lecturer, 1949; Distinguished Lecturer, AAPG, 1947, 1953; Westbrook Lecturer, 1951; Agassiz Medal, National Academy of Sciences, 1955; U.S. Navy Distinguished Service Award, 1955; Order of Naval Merit, Government of Argentina, 1957; Bowie Medal, American Geophysical Union, 1957.
     During these years, he has done a vast amount of research and has made many contributions to scientific publications in which he discussed the results of his research and fnidings. These researches have been in the fields of seismic reflection and refraction in ocean basins, ocean bottom photography, submarine sound transmission, deep sea coring of the ocean bottom, theory and observation of earthquake surface waves, fluidity of the earth's core, generation and propagation of microseisms, submarine explosion seismology, marine gravity surveys, marine topography and sedimentation, natural radio-activity of ocean waters and sediments, study of abyssal plains and mid-ocean canyons. His conception and development of the "Sofar" submarine sound ranging and transmission system was an oustanding contribution to the World War II effort.
     He is a member of many scientific societies and has been elected to honorary membership in Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi.
     Several years ago while engaged in an exploraiton tour on the research ship, Vema, sailing between New York and Bermuda, Dr. Ewing was involved in an accident which came very close to terminating his career. While attempting to lash down some shipping on the deck, Dr. Ewing and three other members of the party and crew, were thrown overboard. Dr. Ewing and two others were subsequently rescued approximately a half-hour after the accident. Evidently it was intended that the glorious career of this man was not to terminate so soon.
     When Dr. Ewing undertakes a project, he has a tenacity that is almost unbelievable, and this characteristic has doubtless resulted in many successful conclusions to his abundant efforts.
     At the age of fifty-one, Dr. Ewing is in the prime of life for a scientist, and you may expect to see him and hear him many times during the next two decades.

     Dr. William Maurice Ewing, in recognition of your contributions to the science of geophysics, the Society of Exploration Geophysicists has elected you an Honorary Life Member, and I now hand you the certificate of Honorary Life Membership in the Society of Exploration Geophysicists.