Lincoln LaPaz Scientist
Lincoln LaPaz was an American astronomer from the University of New Mexico and a pioneer in the study of meteors.He was born in Wichita, Kansas on February 12, 1897 to Charles Melchior LaPaz and Emma Josephine (Strode). He earned his Bachelor of Arts in 1920 in mathematics at Fairmont College (presently Wichita State University) and also taught there between 1917 and 1920. He earned his Masters degree via a scholarship at Harvard University, completed in 1922. On June 18, 1922, he married Leota Ray Butler and later had two children, Leota Jean and Mary Strode. Between 1922 and 1925 he taught at Dartmouth College.He received his Ph.D. in 1928 at the University of Chicago, where he instructed for a short time and acted as National Research Fellow. In 1930, he was assistant professor at Ohio State University and became associate professor in 1936 and finally professor in 1942, where he helped develop the graduate mathematics program.LaPaz took leave from Ohio State to the New Mexico Proving Ground during World War II where he was a Research Mathematician, and later as Technical Director, Operations Analysis Section, Second Air Force. This is where he became interested in ballistics as well as meteorites. His work with the Second Air Force included investigation of Japanese Fugo balloon bombs that had reached the United States.In 1945, he worked at the University of New Mexico where he founded the Institute of Meteoritics, where he was Director until 1966.Between 1945 to 1953 LaPaz was Head of the Department of Mathematics and Astronomy. From 1953 to 1962, he served as Director of the Division of Astronomy at the university. In 1952, while serving as Director of the Institute of Meteoritics at the university, he researched the Lake Murray Meteorite.