This paper describes the origin and subsequent development of coal petrology at Penn State
and its related re-birth in the United States between the 1950s and the 1980s. The combination of
the appreciation of the diversity of coalified material from studies of the Brandon Lignite of
Vermont and a steel industry technologic problem proposed to the University for solution resulted
in a new descriptive system for predicting coking behavior and coke quality from coal composi-
tion. Penn State continued to play a role in coal research which resulted in the standard
palynological reference, ‘‘Catalog of Fossil Spores and Pollen’’; studies of uranium-bearing
lignites, modern organic sediments, and coal liquefaction and gasification; the creation of the
North American Coal Petrographers Ž predecessor of The Society of Organic Petrology. , The Coal
Sample Bank and Data Base, and widely recognized short courses in coal petrology; and the
development of numerous graduates who created other company-specific coke quality prediction
systems, as well as a multitude of other research and educational programs. q 2000 Elsevier
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