Preston Cloud

Preston Cloud
Born	Preston Ercelle Cloud, Jr (1912-09-26)September 26, 1912 West Upton, Massachusetts, US
Died	January 16, 1991(1991-01-16) (aged 78) Santa Barbara, California
Alma mater	George Washington University (BSc) Yale University (PhD)
Known for	Geologic time scale Origin of life Cambrian explosion
Awards	Paleontological Society Medal (1971) Lucius Wilbur Cross Medal (1973) Penrose Medal (1976) Charles Doolittle Walcott Medal (1977)
Scientific career
Fields	Biogeology, Physical cosmology
Institutions	Harvard University, University of California, Santa Barbara
Doctoral advisor	C. O. Dunbar

Preston Ercelle Cloud, Jr. (September 26, 1912 – January 16, 1991) was an American earth scientist, biogeologist, cosmologist, and paleontologist. He served in the United States Navy (in which he was a bantamweight boxing champion), and led several field explorations of the U.S. Geological Survey. In academia, he was a member of the faculty of Harvard University, University of Minnesota, University of California, Los Angeles, and lastly University of California, Santa Barbara. He was best known for his work on the geologic time scale and the origin of life on Earth, and as a pioneering ecologist and environmentalist.^[1] His works on the significance of Cambrian fossils in the 1940s led to the development of the concept "Cambrian explosion,"^[2] for which he coined the phrase "eruptive evolution."^[3]