Hans Stille

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Hans Stille (October 8, 1876–December 26, 1966) was an influential German tectonic geologist.

He was born in Hanover, Germany, and was educated in Göttingen. For his graduate studies he studied mountain building in the region of the Teutoburger Forest. After graduation he served with the royal Prussian geological institute, making photographic surveys. His work would influence his future career, as he focused on tectonics.

He served as professor of geology at the Universität Göttingen. In 1924 he suggested a tectonic model for the continents that postulated alternating periods of orogenic (mountain building) and epeirogenic (no mountain building) episodes.

He would introduce the term Craton into the geologic vocabulary in 1933 that was used to describe those portions of the continental crust that were old and stable. The Geotectonic Research journal was founded in 1937 by Hans Stille and Franz Lotze.

He died in Hanover.

[edit] Honors

The Hans-Stille Medal of German Geological Society, awarded annually, is named after him. Also named for him is the mineral Stilleite (ZnSe) and the wrinkle-ridge Dorsa Stille on the Moon.