FIELDING

See also:

• BRADFORD
• BRADFORD, JOHN (1510?—1555)
• BRADFORD, WILLIAM (1590—1657)
• BRADFORD, WILLIAM (1663—1752)
• BRADFORD, WILLIAM (1827—1892)

BRADFORD

See also:

• FIELDING BRADFORD MEEK (1817—1876)

MEEK (1817—1876)  , American geologist and palaeontologist, the son of a lawyer, was born at Madison, Indiana, on the loth of December 1817 . In early life he was in business as a merchant, but his leisure hours were devoted to collecting fossils and studying the rocks of the neighbourhood of Madison . Being unsuccessful in business he turned his whole attention to science, and in 1848 he gained employment on the U.S . Geological Survey in Iowa, and subsequently in Wisconsin and Minnesota . In 1852 he became assistant to Professor James Hall at Albany, and worked at palaeontology with him until 1858 . Meanwhile in 1853 he accompanied Dr F . V . Hayden in an exploration of the " Bad Lands " of Dakota a.nd brought back valuable collections of fossils . In 1858 he went to Washington, where he devoted his time to the palaeontological work of the United States geological and geographical surveys, his work bearing " the stamp of the most faithful and conscientious research," and raising him to the highest rank as' a palaeontologist . Besides many separate contributions to science, he prepared with W . M . Gabb (2839—1878), two volumes on the palaeontology of California (1864—1869); and also a Report on the Invertebrate Cretaceous and Tertiary Fossils of the Upper Missouri Country (1876) .

He died at Washington, on the 22nd of December 1876 .