Richard Foster Flint born in Chicago, graduated from the University of Chicago and earned his Ph.D. in geology at the University of California graduating in 1925. He then joined Yale as a member of the faculty, becoming a full professor in 1945.

Flint was recognized for his leadership role in Quaternary period geology with extensive work on effects of glaciations in northeastern America.

He also performed research in Washington State to understand the last ice age’s impact on the Northwest, gaining some notoriety for his opposition to the Missoula Floods

Missoula Floods

The Missoula Floods refer to the cataclysmic floods that swept periodically across eastern Washington and down the Columbia River Gorge at the end of the last ice age. The glacial flood events have been researched since the 1920s...

 hypothesis, which was posed by J Harlen Bretz

J Harlen Bretz

J Harlen Bretz was an American geologist, best known for his research that led to the acceptance of the Missoula Floods, and also for his work on caves. He was born to Oliver Joseph Bretz and Rhoda Maria Howlett, farmers in Saranac, Michigan, as the oldest of five children...

. He presented a detailed and thoughtful argument against the possibility of catastrophic floods; a position which has subsequently fallen into disfavor based on a wide collection of evidence.

Major publications included:

• Outlines of Physical Geology, 1941
• Introduction to Geology, 1962
• Radiocarbon measurements, 1967
• Glacial Geology and the Pleistocene Epoch (Glacial and Pleistocene Geology), 1957
• Glacial and Quaternary geology‎, 1971

Awards

In 1972 he was awarded the 'Prestwich Medal', a medal awarded by the Geological Society of London

Geological Society of London

The Geological Society of London is a learned society based in the United Kingdom with the aim of "investigating the mineral structure of the Earth"...

, for significant contributions in the science of Geology.