Herman LeRoy Fairchild

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Herman LeRoy Fairchild

Herman LeRoy Fairchild (born April 29, 1850 in Montrose , Pennsylvania , † November 29, 1943 ) was an American geologist .

Life

Fairchild (whose ancestors came to the USA with the Mayflower) studied science at Cornell University with a major in geology and graduated in 1874. He then taught science in Pennsylvania (Wyoming Seminary in Kingston, Pennsylvania ) and at schools in New York City (ab 1877) and was secretary of the New York Academy of Sciences. In 1888 he was a co-founder of the Geological Society of America . In 1888 he became professor of geology and natural sciences at the University of Rochester , where he retired in 1920. In 1903 he visited Europe.

He was embroiled in a controversy over the Meteor Crater in Arizona in the 1890s (Coon Mountain Controversies after the former name of the Meteor Crater). He correctly suspected that it was caused by a meteorite impact, which has long been controversial. He also dealt with glacial geology. From 1906 to 1920 he was in the New York State Geological Survey.

In 1912 he was president of the Geological Society of America and from 1891 to 1906 its secretary, who was also responsible for its publications. He received the first Rochester Civic Medal from the Rochester Museum of Arts and Sciences in 1938. From 1889 to 1901 he was President of the Rochester Academy of Sciences. In 1894 he was general secretary of the American Association for the Advancement of Science . In 1910 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ William Graves Hoyt: Coon Mountain Controversies. Meteor Crater and the development of impact theory, University of Arizona Press 1987
personal data
SURNAME Fairchild, Herman LeRoy
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American geologist
DATE OF BIRTH April 29, 1850
PLACE OF BIRTH Montrose , Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH November 29, 1943