Ransom Evarts Somers
Johnson, Huntley & Somers (1915-1922)
Ransom Evarts (R.E.) Somers was born in Waltham, Massachusetts on July 28, 1885. R.E. began his notable academic career at Harvard University at the age of eighteen; graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1908. He remained at Harvard to continue his graduate studies until 1911, when he received his Master of Art in Geological Education. As part of his coursework at Harvard, R.E. received a three year teaching fellowship in Austin, Texas. R.E. focused the first year on teaching metallurgy and with the remaining two years, he instructed mineralogy. At the end of the fellowship term in 1911, R.E. returned to Harvard, where he was appointed as an economic geology instructor. During the summers at Harvard, R.E. took part in various projects with mining companies in Virginia and the geological consulting firm, Johnson & Huntley, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1915, he resigned at Harvard, to attend Cornell University for his doctorate degree. Prior to leaving Massachusetts, R.E. and Esther M. Fraim married on September 7 in Waltham. In conjunction with his responsibilities at Cornell, R.E. continued his geological profession, joining the firm Johnson, Huntley & Somers (1915). Once R.E. earned his Ph.D., he relocated to Pittsburgh to be more involved with Johnson, Huntley & Somers. While working as a consulting geologist, R.E. was also a professor of oil and gas geology at the University of Pittsburgh. R.E. left Johnson, Huntley & Somers in 1922, to work for Gulf Oil Corporation, where he stayed through the 1940's. R.E. passed away in March of 1980, in Granville, Ohio. He was survived by wife, Esther and their two children, Barbara Louis (b. 1920) and Allen (b. 1923).
Throughout Somers' career, he was involved with the following firms and/or societies: The Geological Society of America, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and Sigma Xi (The Scientific Research Society).
