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Page 12 Department of Earth & Environment December 2011A Conversation with David Noble ‘52by Marissa Weiss ‘13Lancaster, Pennsylvania, May 1952.This year’s graduating class stumblesout into reality, into the world outsidecollegiate boundaries. David Noble,a young man who just received hisgeology degree, talks to ProfessorJake Freedman about not yet findinga job, a conversation that would shapehis career and future after his previousfour years at Franklin and MarshallCollege.Although each class experiences a relativelysimilar graduation process, it is easy to imaginethat Franklin and Marshall College in 1952 wasa much different place from how it is now in 2011. from the archives: Jake Freedman instructs students in a lab exerciseMr. Noble can wholeheartedly attest to that fact.Women were virtually non-existent on campus: none in the student body and only one female faculty member. A largeamount of students were at F&M because of the GI Bill, which meant that many had a military background such asNoble himself. A Geology major merely by chance, he states that even simple college tasks like registering for classeswere different over fifty years ago. There were obviously no computers back in the day—registering took place theold-fashioned way, in long lines at department-specific tables. According to Mr. Noble, “the biology and chemistry lineswere really long” so he and his roommate at the time decided on a whim to join the short Geology line in order to fulfilltheir science requirements. There was no looking back from there.The Geology department was relatively young back in Noble’s time at F&M. He specifically remembers disliking all themyriad field trips Earth & Environment students can expect to have to embark on during some point of their studies—this was not because they were not interesting, but because they happened “rain or shine…and it rained a lot”. Regardlessof the weather, Noble discovered one subject he was particularly interested in during his work: mineralogy. Thisinterest would later influence his career.After graduation, he worked as a geologist for Crane Company of Chicago’s ilmenite exploration program, searchingfor the titanium ore in places like Quebec and Virginia. According to Noble, many companies had “excess World War IIprofits back in the day” and in order to not be taxed on them “they used them for exploration projects” such as this one.This position lasted only a few years because the president of the company, who was pushing the exploration, was fired.Lacking a sponsor and funding, the exploration program was discontinued. Noble greatly enjoyed the experience—onecan only assume upcoming Earth & Environment department graduates would salivate at the very thought of such anexperience. From here, Noble struggled career-wise. He had to resort to various odd jobs, such as selling cosmetics andworking as a research chemist for a paper company, in order to support his wife and baby girl. Although the economywas undoubtedly much better back in the 1950s, in the state of America today, it is slightly heartwarming to hear thatjobs were still not easy to come by back then.Happily, Noble’s karma brightened. A man walked into his mother-in-law’s restaurant and mentioned during conversationover a cup of coffee that he was looking for a geologist, his mother-in-law was quick to suggest the name of her sonin-law.For Noble, it seemed that opportunity literally walked through the door. This man worked for the Virginia~~ continued on next page ~~