Abstract
ON Sept. 7 occur the centenaries of the births of the American geologist Hayden and the German chemist Kekulé. Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden, who was born at Westfield, Mass., graduated from Oberlin College, and in 1853 took his M.D. at Albany College, and by James Hall was induced to join an exploring party to Nebraska. During the Civil War he served as a surgeon, in 1865 became professor of geology in the University of Pennsylvania, and for twelve years, 1867–79, was geologist in charge of the United States Geological Survey of the Territories. His labours resulted in a most valuable series of reports in all branches of national history and economic science. He first made known the basalt plateau in Oregon and Washington through which the Columbia River had channelled its course; he described in 1871 the wonderful lava plateau in north-western Wyoming on the banks of the Yellowstone River, with geysers, hot springs, mud volcanoes, and extinct volcanic hills, and the idea of the great National Yellowstone Park was his. Hayden died at Philadelphia on Dec. 22, 1887, and the following year his widow endowed the Hayden Medal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia for work in geology or palaontology, among the recipients of which have been Suess, Huxley, Daubreé, and Geikie.
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News and Views. Nature 124, 382–386 (1929). https://doi.org/10.1038/124382b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/124382b0