Charles Sumner Gwynne was born in New York City on December 23, 1885, to Alexander and Emily (Bishop) Gwynne. He received his A.B. (1907) in chemistry from Cornell University, his M.S. (1925) in geology from Syracuse University, and his Ph.D. (1927) in geology from Cornell University. Gwynne joined the Geology Department at Iowa State College (University) as Assistant Professor (1927-1931). He was promoted to Associate Professor (1931-1951) and Professor (1951-1970), serving for short periods as Acting Head (1931-1935) of the department. In the years immediately following World War II, he was the sole faculty member in the department.



Gwynne’s field of special interest was economic geology. He conducted research in a variety of fields such as the geology of coals and clay, structural geology, petrology, weathering, and glacial geology. His favorite object of study was a glacial erratic rock located about half a mile from campus. Students and faculty moved the boulder in 1956 to a permanent spot on the southeast corner of Science Hall. He conducted field summer courses in conservation for secondary teachers for many years. These courses were held in state parks in Iowa. Drawing from these experiences, he published a series of papers on the geology of more than 60 state parks in the “Iowa Conservation Review”.



Charles Gwynne married Elsie Wilson, a faculty colleague in Home Economics in 1933. He regularly attended the Geological Society of America Conventions and international geological conferences. He died on June 18, 1972 in Ames, Iowa, and is buried in the University Cemetery.