George Doumani

George Alexander Doumani (16 April 1929 – 16 March 2021) was a Lebanese Palestinian geologist and explorer.[1]

Early life and education

George Alexander Doumani was born in Akko, British Mandate of Palestine, on 16 April 1929.[2] He joined Terra Sancta College in Jerusalem and awarded the Palestinian matric in 1948. Doumani began working in the legal profession.[3] During the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight he left with his family to Bkassine village in Lebanon. He and his brother went to Saudi Arabia in 1949/50 and worked for the oil company, Saudi Aramco, supervising laboratory testing and inspecting tankers.[3] Contact with Americans there led him to move to the US to pursue higher education.[3]

Doumani graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in paleontology from University of California, Berkeley in 1956, with a thesis titled Stratigraphy of the San Pablo Group, Contra Costa County California.[4]

Career

Doumani joined the International Geophysical Year in 1957 and 1958 in Antarctica, doing fieldwork at Byrd Station.[3] Doumani made other trips to the southern continent in the early 1960s. His findings helped prove the continental drift theory.[1] Two Antarctic mountains are named after him: Mount Doumani and Doumani Peak. His name was also included in that of fossil crustacean he identified in Antarctica, Cyzicus doumanii.[5]

In 1963, Doumani joined the Science and Technology Division of the Library of Congress,[3] where he worked on the Antarctic Bibliography.[6] He subsequently worked for the Congressional Research Service.[7] From 1970 to 1971, he was the president of The Antarctican Society.[8] In 1976, Doumani was a presidential appointee to the Peace Corps in Yemen.[3]

In 1999 he published a book about Antarctica, The Frigid Mistress: Life and Exploration in Antarctica.[9] Doumani died in Washington D.C. on 16 March 2021, at the age of 91.[10][11]

Doumani was interviewed for the Byrd Polar Research Center Archival Program in 2001.[12] In 2005, Doumani was honored with an exhibit at the opening of the Arab American National Museum in Michigan, to which he donated artefacts from his life and career.[13][3]


References

  1. ^ a b Mona Lisa Mouallem (10 March 2004). "A tribute at the crossroads of the Arab-American experience". Daily Star (Lebanon). Archived from the original on 12 October 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
  2. ^ John Stewart: Antarctica – An Encyclopedia. Vol. 1, McFarland & Co., Jefferson and London 2011, ISBN 978-0-7864-3590-6, p. 451.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Simarski, Lynn Teo (2006). "The Scientist Who Came in From the Cold". Saudi Aramco Dimensions. Saudi Aramco. Retrieved 23 September 2025.
  4. ^ The Ninety-Fifth Commencement. University of California Berkeley. 1958. Retrieved 22 September 2025.
  5. ^ Tasch, Paul (1987), Fossil Conchostraca of the Southern Hemisphere and Continental Drift, Geological Society of America Memoirs, vol. 165, Geological Society of America, pp. xi–282, doi:10.1130/mem165-p1, ISBN 978-0-8137-1165-2, retrieved 2025-09-23
  6. ^ Cooke, Alan (1966-01-01). "Antarctic Bibliography, edited by George A. Doumani". Arctic. 19 (2). doi:10.14430/arctic3589. ISSN 1923-1245.
  7. ^ Doumani, George (Spring 2005). "Geology is not always about rocks" (PDF). Geological Society of America Geo Tales. 2. Retrieved 23 September 2025.
  8. ^ "Presidents" (PDF). The Antarctican Society Newsletter. 80–81 (1): 1. August 1980. Retrieved 23 September 2025.
  9. ^ Doumani, George (1999). The Frigid Mistress: Life and Exploration in Antarctica. Noble House. ISBN 978-1-56167-476-3. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
  10. ^ "George Doumani". Legacy. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  11. ^ "George Alexander Doumani". Dignity Memorial. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  12. ^ Shoemaker, Brian (30 November 2005). "Dr George A Doumani".
  13. ^ Hanania, Ray (2005). "Telling Our Own Story". Saudi Aramco World. Vol. 56, no. 5. Retrieved 23 September 2025.


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