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JOSIAH DWIGHT WHITNEY (1819-1896)

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 611 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JOSIAH See also:DWIGHT See also:WHITNEY (1819-1896)  , See also:American geologist, was See also:born at See also:Northampton, See also:Massachusetts, on the 23rd of See also:November 1819 . He graduated at Yale in 1839, and after two years' See also:work as assistant in the See also:geological survey of New See also:Hampshire, spent some See also:time in See also:Europe in the study of See also:chemistry, See also:mineralogy and See also:geology . Returning to the See also:United States in 1847, he laboured successfully for a time in the See also:copper and See also:iron 1 D . A . See also:Tompkins, See also:Cotton (1901), p . 28.lands of the See also:Lake See also:Superior region; in 1855 he became See also:State chemist and See also:professor in the See also:Iowa University and took See also:part in the geological survey of the state; he subsequently worked in the See also:lead region of the upper See also:Missouri See also:river, in See also:Wisconsin, and in See also:Illinois, See also:publishing many reports, singly or in collaboration with others . From 186o to 1874 he was state geologist of See also:California, and issued a comprehensive See also:series of reports on its See also:topography, geology and See also:botany . In 1869, with See also:William H .. See also:Brewer, he determined the heights of the See also:principal Rocky See also:Mountain summits; and in recognition of his labours See also:Mount See also:Whitney (14,502, in Inyo See also:county, California, the highest See also:peak in the United States) received its name from him . From 1865 until his See also:death he was professor of geology and director of the school of See also:mining and See also:practical geology at Harvard University, residing in See also:Cambridge See also:save when absent on expeditions of See also:research . The records of his investigations are somewhat dispersed; the most homogeneous of his writings are The Metallic See also:Wealth of the United States, described and compared with that of other Countries (1854), a work of importance at the time of its issue, and Contributions to American Geology (vol. i. only, 1880) . He died at Lake Sunapee, New Hampshire, on the 18th of See also:August 1896 .

End of Article: JOSIAH DWIGHT WHITNEY (1819-1896)
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