Charles Doolittle Walcott, Paleontologist

Biography & Memoir
Cover of the book Charles Doolittle Walcott, Paleontologist by Ellis Yochelson, The Kent State University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Ellis Yochelson ISBN: 9781612771724
Publisher: The Kent State University Press Publication: January 28, 2011
Imprint: The Kent State University Press Language: English
Author: Ellis Yochelson
ISBN: 9781612771724
Publisher: The Kent State University Press
Publication: January 28, 2011
Imprint: The Kent State University Press
Language: English

Charles Doolittle Walcott (1850–1927) is one of the most important and highly respected figures in the history of geology. This in-depth biography documents his career and life from birth to retirement from the U.S. Geological Survey in 1907, when he became Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

With very little formal education (he did not complete high school), Walcott became special assistant to James Hall, State Paleontologist of New York, and made a fundamental contribution to the study of trilobites by describing their limbs. He joined the new U.S. Geological Survey in 1879 and rose through the ranks to become its director in 1894, a position he held for 13 years. Walcott is known best for having documented in detail the “Cambrian,” the oldest richly fossiliferous rocks in the world. His primary efforts for the U.S. Geological Survey were in keying fossils to the sequence of rocks, and he brought new precision to the biostratigraphy of the older rocks of North America.

A talented and productive scientist, he also applied his talents to administration and made the USGS the most successful scientific organization in the world. At one time he was Director of the USGS, Chief of the Reclamation Service (effectively in charge of national forests), Secretary of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, and chairman of two committees appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt. The publication of his biography will serve to illuminate the life of an important but little-known American scientist.

[tab:Author]Ellis Yochelson is past-president of the Paleontological Society and cofounder and past-president of the History of Earth Sciences Society. He is the author of The National Museum of Natural History: Seventy-Five Years in the Natural History Building and editor of the two-volume Proceedings of the North American Paleontological Convention.

“Ellis Yochelson leads us to a new, much deeper understanding of Charles D. Walcott and the institutions with which he was associated. He captures an era of geology that is gone, and in so doing may help educate modern readers about the goals and rigors of geoscience in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.”—Kennard Bork, past editor of History of Earth Science

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Charles Doolittle Walcott (1850–1927) is one of the most important and highly respected figures in the history of geology. This in-depth biography documents his career and life from birth to retirement from the U.S. Geological Survey in 1907, when he became Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

With very little formal education (he did not complete high school), Walcott became special assistant to James Hall, State Paleontologist of New York, and made a fundamental contribution to the study of trilobites by describing their limbs. He joined the new U.S. Geological Survey in 1879 and rose through the ranks to become its director in 1894, a position he held for 13 years. Walcott is known best for having documented in detail the “Cambrian,” the oldest richly fossiliferous rocks in the world. His primary efforts for the U.S. Geological Survey were in keying fossils to the sequence of rocks, and he brought new precision to the biostratigraphy of the older rocks of North America.

A talented and productive scientist, he also applied his talents to administration and made the USGS the most successful scientific organization in the world. At one time he was Director of the USGS, Chief of the Reclamation Service (effectively in charge of national forests), Secretary of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, and chairman of two committees appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt. The publication of his biography will serve to illuminate the life of an important but little-known American scientist.

[tab:Author]Ellis Yochelson is past-president of the Paleontological Society and cofounder and past-president of the History of Earth Sciences Society. He is the author of The National Museum of Natural History: Seventy-Five Years in the Natural History Building and editor of the two-volume Proceedings of the North American Paleontological Convention.

“Ellis Yochelson leads us to a new, much deeper understanding of Charles D. Walcott and the institutions with which he was associated. He captures an era of geology that is gone, and in so doing may help educate modern readers about the goals and rigors of geoscience in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.”—Kennard Bork, past editor of History of Earth Science

More books from The Kent State University Press

Cover of the book White Sustenance by Ellis Yochelson
Cover of the book Intended Place by Ellis Yochelson
Cover of the book The World of Cyrus Eaton by Ellis Yochelson
Cover of the book Cloud Tablets by Ellis Yochelson
Cover of the book On Lincoln by Ellis Yochelson
Cover of the book Yankee Dutchmen under Fire by Ellis Yochelson
Cover of the book Bodies and Barriers by Ellis Yochelson
Cover of the book The Confessions of a Reformer by Ellis Yochelson
Cover of the book Cautious Rebel by Ellis Yochelson
Cover of the book Seven Boxes for the Country After by Ellis Yochelson
Cover of the book The Business of Captivity by Ellis Yochelson
Cover of the book The Washington Senators by Ellis Yochelson
Cover of the book The Imperfect Revolution by Ellis Yochelson
Cover of the book My Gettysburg by Ellis Yochelson
Cover of the book Buckeye Presidents by Ellis Yochelson
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy