Early Life
George Switzer was born in Petaluma, California on June 11, 1915. He was the son of Albert and Charlotte Ryan Switzer.
Switzer first attended Santa Rosa Junior College before earning his bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1937. He then obtained his master's degree in mineralogy from Harvard University in 1939. He continued at Harvard and earned his doctorate from the University in 1942.
He worked as a professor both at Stanford University from 1939 to 1940, and at Harvard University from 1940 to 1945. Switzer tried to enlist in the United States military during World War II, but a recruiter reportedly told him that his years of education could be put to better use elsewhere. So during the war, he also worked as a crystallographer for Majestic Radio & TV Corp., where he worked keeping aircraft radio frequencies up and running.
Read more about this topic: George Switzer (mineralogist)
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