Print this pageAbstract: Troy, New York: Epitome of the History of Geology in North America
Gerald M. Friedman, Jonathan P. Bass
When Amos Eaton founded Rensselaer in 1824, Geology was central to the curriculum, focussing on field trips as one of the fundamental pedagogic devices. On one of these forays into the field, Eaton speculated about the possibility of using petroleum as a fuel. Jeremias Van Rensselaer's Lectures on Geology (1825), Eaton's Geological Text-book (1830) and Ebenezer Emmons' Manual of Mineralogy and Geology (1826) were among the earliest geology texts published in America. In American geology the period between 1818 and 1836 is known as the "Eatonian Era." Eaton's student, James Hall, became known as the father of the geosyncline and founder of modern American stratigraphy and paleontology. Probably no other single person exerted a more influential role in the development of pa eontology in North America. Names such as Eaton, Emmons, James Hall, Douglas Houghton, and George H. Cook, which comprised the Rensselaer faculty of the first half of the nineteenth century have no match anywhere in the annals of American geological education.
Overlapping with Hall was Robert P. Whitfield. Whitfield was responsible for the nomination of C. D. Walcott as the director of the first U.S. Geological Survey. Also among Eaton's early students was Joseph Henry, founder of both the Library of Congress and the American scientific community. Following upon these men, Henry B. Nason collected specimens of almost all then-known species of minerals, a collection which would inspire then-student Roebling to devote much of his life to the study of mineralogy. The mineral collection of the Smithsonian Institution and the Roebling Medal of the Mineralogical Society of America attest to the lasting influence of Nason.
After H.B. Nason's and James Hall's death, Amadeus W. Grabau, the father of modern sedimentology, served at Rensselaer. Rensselaer was the home to Shepard W. Lowman. Under the leadership of Lowman, chairman of the Research Committee, the AAPG pm produced the 1947 Report of the Research Committee which led directly to the formation of Project 51 of the American Petroleum Institute, a methodical and detailed study of modern depositional environments on a scale not previously attempted.
Sidney Powers, 14th President and co-founder of the AAPG, after whom AAPG's highest honor has been named, was born and raised in Troy, and is buried here.
AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90954©1995 AAPG Eastern Section, Schenectady, New York