Benjamin Kendall Emerson

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Benjamin Kendall Emerson (ca.1867)

Benjamin Kendall Emerson (born December 20, 1843 in Nashua , New Hampshire , † April 7, 1932 in Amherst , Massachusetts ) was an American geologist and paleontologist .

Life

Emerson studied geology at Amherst College with the degree in 1865. Originally he wanted to study there with Charles Henry Hitchcock , but could only hear a few lectures with him as he soon retired. He then taught chemistry and zoology at the Groton Academy and continued his studies in geology at the Universities of Göttingen and Berlin. In 1870 he received his doctorate in Göttingen (Die Liasmulde von Markoldendorf bei Einbeck). From 1872 to 1917 he was professor of geology at Amherst College (and at the same time from 1883 to 1885 at Smith College). There a number of important geologists were among his students.

In 1893 he survived a railway accident (after which his obituary appeared in the Springfield Republican).

From 1890 he was Assistant Geologist and from 1896 to 1920 Geologist of the US Geological Survey . In particular, he studied the geology of Massachusetts (where he mapped for the US Geological Survey), Rhode Island, and the Connecticut River valley . His geological map of Massachusetts (which also included parts of the Appalachians ) at a scale of 1: 250,000 appeared in 1916 and replaced the older maps of his predecessor Hitchcock (from 1833, 1841). It was in turn replaced in 1983 by a successor map of the GSA (Bedrock Geologic Map of Massachusetts), created by a team led by E-an Zen .

Emerson also did research on the subject of the differently inclined axes of rotation of the planets . The paleobiogeographer Theodor Arldt had taken up these ideas, which were then discussed by Wilhelm Bölsche in his book Ice Age and Climate Change as "Emerson-Arldtsche Idea".

In 1899 he was President of the Geological Society of America . He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences since 1895 and of the American Philosophical Society since 1897 .

literature

  • Alfred C. Lane: Benjamin Kendall Emerson (1843-1932), Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Volume 68, 1933, pp. 625-627, JSTOR, first page
  • FB Loomis, Bulletin GSA, Volume 44, p. 317

Web links

Commons : Benjamin Kendall Emerson  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Benjamin Kendall Emerson  - Sources and full texts (English)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Margaret Thompson, GSA and Massachusetts state geologic maps: a lasting tradition, GSA Conference, 2013
  2. ^ Wilhelm Bölsche: Ice Age and Climate Change. Stuttgart. Kosmos, society of friends of nature. Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung 1919. OCLC 717708852
  3. ^ Member History: Benjamin K. Emerson. American Philosophical Society, accessed July 29, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Emerson, Benjamin Kendall
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American geologist
DATE OF BIRTH December 20, 1843
PLACE OF BIRTH Nashua , New Hampshire
DATE OF DEATH April 7, 1932
Place of death Amherst , Massachusetts