Arthur Keith (September 30, 1864 – February 7, 1944) was an American geologist, who spent nearly 50 years in doing field studies involving mapping and describing the geological features of the Appalachians from the Carolinas to Maine.

Biography

Arthur Keith was born in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

, on September 30, 1864. He grew up in

Quincy, Massachusetts Quincy ( ) is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county. Quincy is part of the Greater Boston area as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in ...

, where he attended public school until he was 12 years old. After preparatory school at

Adams Academy The Adams Academy was a school for boys in Quincy, Massachusetts founded by President John Adams, who outlined his wishes for a school to be built on the site of John Hancock's birthplace in an 1822 deed of trust. Opened in 1872, the Academy op ...

, he matriculated in 1881 at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. He graduated there with bachelor's degree in 1885 and A.M. in 1887. He was a student of

Nathaniel Shaler Nathaniel Southgate Shaler (February 20, 1841 – April 10, 1906) was an American paleontologist and geologist who wrote extensively on the theological and scientific implications of the theory of evolution, whose work is now considered scientif ...

. In 1887 Keith started work with the Massachusetts Topographic Survey. In the summer of that year he became assistant in a field party of the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...

(USGS) and mapped areas in mountainous eastern Tennessee. At the end of the summer he went to

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, and became a regular member of the USGS. He was assigned to Tennessee as field assistant to

Bailey Willis Bailey Willis (March 31, 1857 in Idle Wild-on-Hudson, New York, United States – February 19, 1949 in Palo Alto, California) was a geological engineer who worked for the United States Geological Survey (USGS), and lectured at two prominent Ameri ...

, who was the director of the Appalachian Division. In 1889 Keith was elected a member of the

Geological Society of America The Geological Society of America (GSA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of the geosciences. History The society was founded in Ithaca, New York, in 1888 by Alexander Winchell, John J. Stevenson, Charles H. Hi ...

. His maps published between 1891 and 1907 gave detailed description of 15,000 square miles with much intricate bedrock structure. In 1906 he became chief of the Section of Areal Geology for all of the US. In 1913 the Section of Area Geology was divided was made into Eastern and Western Areas, with Keith in charge of the Eastern Area. During World War I, he began a special study, requested by the US Army, in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont of geological features with possible military importance. In 1924 he withdrew from administrative work to work on the complex geology of northwestern Vermont and a geological map of Maine. Keith was elected in 1928 a member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

. He was in 1914 president of the Geological Society of Washington, in 1927 president of the

, from 1928 to 1931 chair of the Division of Geology and Geography of the National Research Council, and from 1931 to 1942 treasurer of the National Academy of Sciences. In 1922, at a symposium, sponsored by the Geological Society of America, he gave his ideas on the structure and history of mountain belts and the causes for their development. In 1916 he married Elizabeth Mary Smith, who died in 1942. They had no children. Arthur Keith died in Washington, D.C., on February 7, 1944.

Selected publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keith, Arthur 1864 births 1944 deaths American geologists Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences United States Geological Survey personnel Harvard University alumni Presidents of the Geological Society of America Scientists from St. Louis Adams Academy alumni