GREENCASTLE, Ind., September 11, 2006  - Two alumni of DePauw University have a story to tell about the power of the Internet; in fact, one of them now knows an island bears his name. The tale, recounted in today's edition of Tucson's Arizona Daily Star, began twelve days ago when that newspaper published an article on Charles C. Bates '39, who, with "a handful of others predicted a small window of good weather that led to the successful invasion of Normandy on D-Day."

DePauw's director of media relations, Ken Owen '82, spotted the story on the newspaper's Web site the morning it was published and wrote a summary for DePauw.edu. In the course of writing the piece, Owen searched the Internet for additional background information on Lt. Col. Bates and discovered on several navigational Web sites that an island has been named after Bates in 1959. That was news to Charles Bates, who initially asked that the mention of Bates Island be pulled from the piece.

"Bates said he didn't believe the news at first and did his own research," writes Djamila Grossman in today's Daily Star. "It confirmed that the island, located near the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, was indeed named after him. Bates Island is about three miles long, half a mile wide and about 80 miles from the nearest inhabited location. The research in the Antarctic Gazetteer also revealed that two other islands nearby were named after Bates' co-workers John J. Schule Jr. and Walter I. Wittmann. 'That's when it really hit me,' Bates said. 'There was more to it than I thought.'"

Bates and Owen exchanged a series of friendly e-mails last week, with the former writing, "I am eternally grateful at the age of 87 for this lead that I had never heard of!" When islands are named after individuals, Bates added, "Normally, you get a certificate to this effect. However, the name submission back in 1959 was by the United Kingdom Antarctic Place-Names Committee and somehow they never notified me. Thus, I am trying to see whether that same committee still has a record of their submission of 47 years ago so I can see who made the nomination."

The article points out that Bates and his colleagues were honored for their "efforts in sea ice forecasting in the North American Arctic during the 1950s... Though Bates will never visit the place, he said cruise ships occasionally go to the area, which is populated by penguins and seals."

The text adds that Owen (seen at left) "was glad to hear he uncovered this 'wonderful secret... What a wonderful thing for him to learn that he has been honored in this way, and almost 50 years after the fact.'"

Read today's update at the Daily Star's Web site, and access the original story here.