Francis Alger

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Francis Alger

Francis Willis Alger (* March 8 in 1807 in Bridgewater , Massachusetts ; † 27. November 1863 in Washington, DC ) was an American industrialist and mineralogist from Boston , Massachusetts.

Alger came from a wealthy industrialist family from Boston who, among other things, produced cannons. He graduated from Harvard University in 1849. He joined his father's company that he took over in 1856 when his father, Cyrus Alger , a metallurgist , died. In his spare time, Francis Alger studied mineralogy. From 1826 he collected minerals in Nova Scotia , Canada and published his results in the American Journal of Science . Together with Charles Thomas Jackson , in 1832 he published Remarks on the mineralogy and geology of the peninsula of Nova Scotia, accompanied by a colored map, illustrative of the structure of the country, and by several views of its scenery , a report on their joint collections in Nova Scotia. Other studies were concerned with zinc -Minen in Sussex County , New Jersey , and gold crystals from California .

Alger is the author of the fifth revised edition (1844) of An elementary treatise on mineralogy by William Phillips .

In 1833 Alger was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . In 1849, Thomas Sterry Hunt named the mineral algerite (a variant of mejonite from the scapolite group ) after Alger.

Portions of Alger's mineral collection are located at Bowdoin College in Brunswick , Maine , and portions at Allegheny College in Meadville , Pennsylvania .

Web links

  • Wendell E. Wilson: Francis Alger at Mineralogical Record, Biographical Archive (mineralogicalrecord.com)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Book of Members 1780 – present, Chapter A. (PDF; 945 kB) In: American Academy of Arts and Sciences (amacad.org). Accessed December 21, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Algerite: Algerite mineral information and data. In: mindat.org. December 21, 2017. Retrieved December 21, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Alger, Francis
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Alger, Francis W .; Alger, Francis Willis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American industrialist and mineralogist
DATE OF BIRTH March 8, 1807
PLACE OF BIRTH Bridgewater , Massachusetts
DATE OF DEATH November 27, 1863
Place of death Washington, DC