Richard Lee "Dick" Armstrong-He was an American/Canadian scientist who was an expert in the fields of radiogenic isotope geochemistry and geochronology, geochemical evolution of the earth, geology of the American Cordillera, and large-magnitude crustal extension. He published over 170 scientific papers. Armstrong was born in Seattle, Washington. In 1955, he moved to New Haven, Connecticut to attend Yale University. He obtained his BSc in 1959 and a PhD in 1964. He stayed at Yale as assistant and associate professor in the geology department until 1973. While he was a Yale professor, he took two leaves, the first in 1963-1964 on a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Berne, and in 1968-1969 as a Morse and Guggenheim Fellow at the Australian National University and California Institute of Technology. In 1973, Armstrong moved to Vancouver, Canada to be an associate professor at the University of British Columbia. He was eventually made a full professor. In 1979, he became a Canadian citizen. Armstrong studied the chronology of magmatism, metamorphism, and tectonics of western North America. He utilized several methodologies, including Potassium-Argon, Rubidium-Strontium, Uranium-Lead and Neodymium-Samarium to obtain isotopic data. Armstrong's early theories guided research for a generation. His views were controversial and contested by many prominent isotope geochemists. It took decades for other scientists to accept his ideas. Before he died, Armstrong was vindicated through the recognition he received for his model of crustal recycling at the 1990 ICOG meeting in Canberra. Most of Armstrong's effort was spent systematically building an enormous database on the American Cordillera. This database has provided a wealth of information to the scientific community. Armstrong was an active member of the Geological Society of America and editorial boards for several journals. He participated in the peer review process of the National Science Foundation and Canada's Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council. He also participated in Canada's Lithoprobe program a national geoscience research project. In 1991, Armstrong died of cancer.

Accolades-

1981, made a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
1986, awarded a Killam Prize by the University of British Columbia
1990, awarded the Logan Medal by the Geological Association of Canada
post humus, the Richard Lee Armstrong Endowment Fund, an endowed scholarship, was established at the Department of Earth Sciences, University of British Columbia
post humus, a new radiogenic isotope laboratory was dedicated to his memory by the University of British Columbia