Adolf Carl Noé

Adolf Carl Noé
Born	Adolf Carl Noé von Archenegg (1873-10-28)October 28, 1873 Graz, Austria
Died
Alma mater	University of Chicago
Known for	Coal ball and paleobotanical studies
Spouse	Mary Evelyn Cullatin

Adolf Carl Noé (born Adolf Carl Noé von Archenegg; October 28, 1873 – April 10, 1939) was an Austrian-born paleobotanist. He is credited for identifying the first coal ball in the United States in 1922, which renewed interest in them. He also developed a method of peeling coal balls using nitrocellulose. Many of the paleobotanical materials owned by the University of Chicago's Walker Museum were provided by Noé, where he was also a curator of fossil plants. He was also a research associate at the Field Museum of Natural History, where he assisted with their reconstruction of a Carboniferous forest.

Education

From 1894 to 1897, Noé attended the University of Graz, studying paleobotany under Constantin von Ettingshausen. After Ettinghausen's death, Noé moved to Germany in 1897, having been transferred to the University of Göttingen. He studied there until 1899, when he moved to the United States. During that year, Noé began his work at the University of Chicago. He obtained a B. A. in 1900. In 1901, he moved to California to teach German at Stanford University. Four years later, in 1905, Noé earned a Ph.D. in Germanic Languages and Literatures.

Near the end of World War I, Noé removed "von Archenegg" from his name to avoid anti-German sentiment. Noé also stopped teaching German classes to research paleobotany, due to overstaffing and the public's disinterest in taking the German courses.

Paleobotanical work

A coal ball

Noé became a geologist for the Allan and Garcia Coal Commission in the Soviet Union in 1927, ten years after the October Revolution. There, in the Donetz coal basin, Noé did work as a mining geologist. In 1934, Noé became the Field Museum of Natural History's research associate, and assisted in the construction of a Pennsylvanian coal swamp there.

Studies on coal balls

Coal balls in North America were found in Iowa coal seams since the 1890s, although the connection to European coal balls was not made until Noé (whose coal ball was actually found by Gilbert Cady) drew the parallel in 1922. There was some disbelief over Noé's discovery. For instance, in 1922, Noé was contacted by David White, who strongly believed that coal balls could not be found in North America. Noé later managed to convince him otherwise by showing him a wheelbarrow full of Illinois coal balls, after which White never spoke to Noé again.

Death

While translating the final chapter of a publication about coal in his office, Noé suffered a paralytic stroke on 11 March 1939. He died on the morning of 10 April, five months before his planned retirement date of October 1939.

Personal life

Noé married Mary Evelyn Cullatin in 1900. They had two daughters, Mary Helen Noé (who later married Nobel laureate Robert S. Mulliken) and Valerie Noé.