WHITNEY, JOSIAH DWIGHT

born Nov. 23, 1819, Northampton, Mass., U.S. died Aug. 19, 1896, Lake Sunapee, N.H. American geologist known for his studies of the regional geology of California. Whitney was an independent consulting expert in mining from 1849 until 1854, when he was appointed chemist for the state of Iowa and professor of mineralogy at the University of Iowa. From 1860 until 1874 he was a member of the Geological Survey of California. He was appointed to the faculty of Harvard University in 1865 and in 1868 opened the Harvard School of Mines; from 1875 to 1896 he was a Sturgis-Hooper Professor of Geology at Harvard. Whitney led the expedition that in 1864 discovered the peak named in his honour, Mt. Whitney. He wrote Metallic Wealth of the United States (1854); The Auriferous Gravels of the Sierra Nevada of California (1880); and Climatic Changes of Later Geological Times (1882).