Society of Independent Professional
Earth Scientists

 Click here for the 2022 S.I.P.E.S. Dues Form - please use this form to update your contact information as well

Click here to pay your dues online

Next Event:

January 26, 2023

Our Presenter:

Matt Silverman

"John T. Scopes: A Summer in Hell and a Career in Petroleum Geology"

All attendees MUST RSVP!

Please RSVP by 11:30 a.m. on Monday, January 23, 2023

Click here to RSVP

or

call 303-730-2967

When: Thursday, January 26, 2023, 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Where: Wynkoop Brewery - 1634 18th Street, Denver, CO 80202

Cost Structure:

• Members $25 (Presentation & Meal)
• Non-members $30 (Presentation & Meal)
• Walk-ins will no longer be allowed due to an issue with the Wynkoop.  Please pre-purchase a lunch to attend.  Sorry for the inconvenience!

Please feel free to share this information with any friends and colleagues who might be interested!

Mask requirements voluntary for vaccinated attendees.

Abstract:

The most famous person who was a petroleum geologist -- but you probably didn’t know it -- is John T. Scopes.  Remember the “Monkey Trial” from your history books? Scopes was the defendant in the sensational 1925 trial that tested a Tennessee law prohibiting the teaching of human evolution in public schools.

Scopes was a 24-year-old high-school football coach and substitute science teacher in the Bible Belt town of Dayton who was recruited by the ACLU to test the law.  In a sweltering, overflowing courtroom, he was convicted in a trial that pitted two of the legal giants of the age against each other. Clarence Darrow appeared for the defense, and three-time Presidential nominee William Jennings Bryan argued for the prosecution. Scopes was fined $100, and he resigned from teaching. His conviction was later overturned on a technicality, though the law was held to be constitutional.

He attended graduate school in geology at the University of Chicago, though the PhD he sought proved elusive. Scopes did field work for two years on the shores of Lake Maracaibo for Gulf Oil’s affiliate in Venezuela. In 1933 he accepted a position as a geologist with United Gas Corporation, for whom he worked in Houston, then in Shreveport, Louisiana, until he retired in 1964. His work focused on reserves, appraisals, economics, and regulatory affairs.

Scopes lived a quiet life after the trial, uncomfortable with his notoriety. The trial was the subject of an award-winning 1955 play, Inherit the Wind, as well as several movie and TV adaptations. The law was repealed in 1967 by the Tennessee legislature, and John Scopes died in 1970.

Scopes provides a lesson for our times: the denial of science and the disdain for facts are with us today. It’s still our job as geoscientists to enlighten the public and speak truth to power.

Bio:

Matt Silverman is exploration manager for Robert L. Bayless, Producer in Denver.  He’s the current president of the Petroleum History Institute, whose annual meeting and field trip will be held in the Illinois Basin this May. Matt is the editor of the Historical Highlights column in the AAPG Explorer and  a past president of both RMAG and DIPS.

The Society of Independent Professional Earth Scientists (SIPES) is the only national organization designed exclusively for the independent or consulting professional earth scientist. Members include geologists, engineers, geophysicists, geochemists, and other earth scientists. 

Our Mission

To be the pre-eminent organization for furthering the professional business interests of independent practitioners of earth sciences. 

• Professional Competence

• Professional Business Ethics

• Presenting a favorable, credible and effective image of Society



Local Events:

Monthly Meetings

Meetings for 2023 will be held at the

Wynkoop Brewery

1634 18th Street

Denver, CO 80202