1910-2000

Charles J. Vitaliano was the first full-time instructor in G429 at the IU Geologic Field Station. He taught with Charles Deiss in the first IU course offerings (1947 to 1948) at the Princeton Field Camp near Red Lodge, and became primary instructor for the first course offered at the IUGFS in 1949.

Dr. Vitaliano was born April 2, 1910, in New York City, and received his undergraduate education at the City College of New York. His studies at Columbia University culminated in the Ph.D., awarded in 1944. At Indiana University, Charles Vitaliano specialized in Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology, and taught the undergraduate Optical Mineralogy courses as well as G429.

Dr. Vitaliano taught at the Field Station until 1974, and he continued to teach at Indiana University until his retirement in 1983. With his wife Dorothy, a geologist and long-time translator for the USGS, he traveled the globe in the pursuit of both “hot rocks” and the interactions between geologic events and human culture, blending geological study with archeology.

Professor Emeritus Charles Vitaliano shared in the 50th Anniversary celebration of the Field Station in 1999. The then Lecture Hall was named for him at that time. He died April 6, 2000. His life is celebrated through the Vitaliano Research Grant.