Ulysses Simpson Grant IV (May 23, 1893 – March 11, 1977) was an American

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althoug ...

and

paleontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

known for his work on the

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

mollusk Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is e ...

s of the California Pacific Coast. He was the youngest son of Ulysses S. Grant Jr., and a grandson of President

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...

and Senator Jerome B. Chaffee. He was born at his father's farm, Merryweather Farm, in Salem Center,

Westchester County, New York Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population ...

. Shortly after his birth, the family moved to

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...

Early life and education

Grant studied

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ea ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

, graduating cum laude in 1915. Following graduation he mined for

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Grant enlisted in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

as a private. By the end of the war, he was a second lieutenant. From 1919 to 1925 he was connected with the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed ...

. In 1926, he returned to school and took graduate courses at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. In 1927 he entered the graduate program in paleontology at Stanford University. Grant received his doctorate in 1929.

Career

After he received his doctorate, Grant worked at the

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County is the largest natural and historical museum in the western United States. Its collections include nearly 35 million specimens and artifacts and cover 4.5 billion years of history. This large col ...

as the

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

of invertebrate paleontology. Grant then taught paleontology at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...

beginning in 1931. He rose from instructor to chairman of the geology department, a post he held for eight years. He retired in 1959. Grant wrote several papers and often collaborated with

Leo George Hertlein Leo George Hertlein (1898 – 1972) was an American paleontologist and malacologist who studied the Recent and fossil mollusks of the eastern Pacific Ocean. Biography Hertlein was born on a farm in Pratt County, Kansas. After graduating high ...

, his classmate at Stanford.

Later life and death

In 1953, Grant IV appeared on Groucho Marx's ''

You Bet Your Life ''You Bet Your Life'' is an American comedy quiz series that has aired on both radio and television. The original and best-known version was hosted by Groucho Marx of the Marx Brothers, with announcer and assistant George Fenneman. The show deb ...

'', where the consolation question was usually "Who is buried in Grant's tomb?". Grant died at St. John's Hospital in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing t ...

, from lung failure caused by

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...

. Grant is buried at

Greenwood Memorial Park (San Diego) Greenwood Memorial Park is a cemetery located on unincorporated land surrounded by the city of San Diego at 4300 Imperial Avenue in San Diego County, California. The cemetery is adjacent to Mount Hope Cemetery. Opened in 1907, Greenwood covers ap ...

alongside his father.

Personal life

His first wife was Matilda Bartikofsky. They were married in

Spartanburg, South Carolina Spartanburg is a city in and the seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The city of Spartanburg has a municipal population of 38,732 as of the 2020 census, making it the 11th-largest city in the state. For a time, the Off ...

, on October 4, 1917, and later divorced. In 1950, he married Frances Dean, who was born circa 1911 in Kentucky and died December 8, 1991, in

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island o ...

. They had one child named George Grant. Grant's cousin was Major General

Ulysses S. Grant III Ulysses Simpson Grant III (July 4, 1881August 29, 1968) was a United States Army officer and planner. He was the son of Frederick Dent Grant, and the grandson of General of the Army and American President Ulysses S. Grant. Early life and educat ...

, the son of Major General

Frederick Dent Grant Frederick Dent Grant (May 30, 1850 – April 12, 1912) was a soldier and United States minister to Austria-Hungary. Grant was the first son of General and President of the United States Ulysses S. Grant and Julia Grant. He was named after his ...

Bibliography

* "Catalogue of the Marine Pliocene and Pleistocene Mollusca of California and Adjacent Regions and a Special Treatment of the Pectinidae and Turridae" with Hoyt Rodney Gale. ''Memoirs of the San Diego Society of Natural History'', Volume I, 1931. * "Geology and Oil Possibilities of Southwestern San Diego County" with Leo George Hertlein, ''California Journal of Mines and Geology'', 1939. * "The Cenozoic Brachiopoda of Western North America" with Leo George Hertlein. University of California, ''Publications in Mathematics and Physical Sciences'', 1944. * "The Geology and Paleontology of the Marine Pliocene of San Diego, California. Part 1, Geology" with Leo George Hertlein. ''Memoirs of the San Diego Society of Natural History'', Volume II, 1944. * "The Geology and Paleontology of the Marine Pliocene of San Diego, California. Part 2a, Paleontology" with Leo George Hertlein. ''Memoirs of the San Diego Society of Natural History'', 1960. * " The Geology and Paleontology of the Marine Pliocene of San Diego, California. Part 2b, Paleontology" with Leo George Hertlein. ''Memoirs of the San Diego Society of Natural History'', 1972. * "A Sojourn In Baja California, 1915" ''Southern California Quarterly'' Vol. XLV, No. 2, June 1963 * *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grant, Ulysses S., IV 1893 births 1977 deaths People from North Salem, New York American paleontologists Harvard College alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni Stanford University alumni University of California, Los Angeles faculty 20th-century American geologists United States Army personnel of World War I People from San Diego United States Army officers Ulysses S. Grant Grant family Burials at Greenwood Memorial Park (San Diego) Scientists from New York (state) American expatriates in Mexico