In his 65-plus year career as a soil scientist, John Tedrow has trekked through the Arctic Circle and Antarctica. As a forensic geologist, he’s testified in numerous murder trials. In fact, Tedrow loves his work so much that he comes to his office each day to write, conduct research, and digitize his maps.
This dedication may not seem unusual, except that Tedrow officially retired nearly a quarter of a century ago. A professor emeritus in the department of ecology, Tedrow will turn 90 on April 21. It’s the work left undone that keeps him coming back each day.
“There’s a lot of unfinished business in the world,” said Tedrow, sitting in his office dressed in jeans and gray sweater. “I spent a good deal of time in the polar regions, and there’s a lot more I wanted to say about it.”
Tedrow’s research focuses on how soil develops, particularly how rock turns to soil. Asked to describe his work, Tedrow stands and taps the wall map with his pointer. “I started off with a contract for the U.S. Air Force working in Northern Alaska; I started in 1953 in the treeless section,” he said, moving the pointer along the map. “Next I went to Banks Island, Prince Patrick Island, Victoria Island, Bathurst Island, and Ellesmere Island to Northern Greenland.”
After studying soil in the Arctic region of North America, Tedrow focused on Antarctica, analyzing the soil of the two regions and similarities and differences between them. Tedrow’s groundbreaking book, Soils of the Polar Landscapes (Rutgers University Press, 1977), depicts the two climate gradients and the fundamentals of their soil classifications.
The Dokuchaev Soil Science Society, a Russian organization named after the Russian geographer Vasily Vasili’evich Dokuchaev, praised Tedrow’s pioneering Arctic research in a 2004 issue of Eurasian Soil Science. “The history of soil science can be viewed as “pre-Tedrow” and “post-Tedrow,” stated the article. “John Tedrow was essentially a pioneer in the exploration of the tundra and arctic soils of North America. It was in the works of Tedrow that the concepts on the genesis and geography of these soils were first formulated and conceptually summarized.”
Tedrow was also instrumental in putting Rutgers on the map, literally, near both poles. There’s a Queen’s College Lake in Greenland, a Tedrow Glacier, and a Rutgers Glacier in Antarctica.
He continued his polar research after becoming a Rutgers instructor in 1947; he was promoted to professor in 1957. He was recruited by his mentor, F.E. Bear, then chair of the soils department, whose black and white photograph hangs on Tedrow’s office wall. Tedrow soon shifted into forensic geology, testifying as an expert witness in the highly publicized murder trial of a night watchman in Carteret. “The defense asked me to testify as to whether or not the scrapings from the shoes of the three men charged with murder were similar to samples found on the man,” he said. He found a great deal of difference between two samples; nonetheless, after three trials, the men were convicted.
With his colleague, R.C. Murray, Tedrow wrote Forensic Geology: Earth Sciences and Criminal
Investigation (Rutgers University Press, 1975), a book, according to writer John McPhee, that all geologists in the Federal Bureau of Investigation own. “For the most part, they are FBI geologists as a result of reading it,” wrote McPhee in his 1996 New Yorker story “Annals of Crime.”
Tedrow stands out in yet another capacity: teacher. Joan Ehrenfeld, professor in Rutgers’ Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources, took Tedrow’s class on soil genesis in the 1970s and said she was never the same.
“I came here as a classically trained plant ecologist, and his class transformed the way I thought about ecology, plants, and science,” Ehrenfeld said. “He’s the kind of teacher who changes the way you look at the world.” As a result, she became a plant and soil ecologist who studies plant and soil interactions.
Mike Sukhdeo, chair of the ecology, evolution, and natural resources department, appreciates Tedrow’s dedication. “He comes in regularly everyday—he’s a model for the students and the faculty,” Sukhdeo said. “He doesn’t get a penny, and he has a tremendous work ethic. He loves his subject. He still publishes books, he’s writing papers, and he’s been invited to Russia for sponsored talks. He’s a national star, a famous scientist. He’s what we aspire to be.”
As for Tedrow, he has no plans to stop. In fact, he just ordered more business cards.