KEMNITZER, Luis E.

KEMNITZER, Luis Emmet (1900-1993), graduate student in geology at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, who explored San Nicolas Island in the early 1930s. Over the span of three separate trips to the island, he spent about a month there. Kemnitzer later became professor of geology at California Institute of Technology.

Of San Nicolas Island in 1933, Kemnitzer reported:

"At the present time the island is inhabited by one family of sheep ranchers who graze some 1200 head on the rather meager growth of grass… Plant life is sparce, being limited to a few scattered shrubs and cactus, ice plant, and some rather large tracts of grass used for grazing, principally on the upper slopes on the eastern half of the island…"

Kemnitzer was part of a plan to try to lease San Nicolas Island from the Government for oil and gas exploration. On September 23, 1932, L. H. Woolsey submitted an application for license, accompanied by a map that divided the island into sections, naming the section holders:

• Elizabeth Green
• Thomas Cruce
• Luis Kemnitzer
• H. J. Norris
• H. J. Norris
• S. C. Herold
• Lorena Norris

• 1933. Kemnitzer, Luis E. Geology of San Nicolas and Santa Barbara islands, southern California. M.S. thesis, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA. 1933. 45 pages, maps.

• 1936. Kemnitzer, Luis E. The Geology of San Nicolas Island (abstract) in American Association of Petroleum Geologists 20(11):1519, 1936