Charles Baker Adams (January 11, 1814 – January 19, 1853) was an American educator and

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

Biography

He was born in

Dorchester, Massachusetts Dorchester () is a Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood comprising more than in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Originally, Dorchester was a separate town, founded by Puritans who emigrated in 1630 from Dorchester, Dorset, E ...

in 1814, the son of Charles J. Adams and Hannah Baker. He graduated from

Phillips Academy Phillips Academy (also known as PA, Phillips Academy Andover, or simply Andover) is a Private school, private, Mixed-sex education, co-educational college-preparatory school for Boarding school, boarding and Day school, day students located in ...

in 1830 and

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zepha ...

in 1834 with high honors (having transferred from Yale University to Amherst in 1832), and became an assistant to

Edward Hitchcock Edward Hitchcock (May 24, 1793 – February 27, 1864) was an American geologist and the third President of Amherst College (1845–1854). Life Born to poor parents, he attended newly founded Deerfield Academy, where he was later principal, ...

in the Geological Survey of New York in 1836. In 1837, he became a tutor and a lecturer in geology at Amherst College. He left to become professor of chemistry and natural history at

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont, United States. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalists, Middlebury w ...

in 1838, remaining in that position through 1847. He served as the first state geologist of Vermont from 1845 through 1848. In 1847, he left Middlebury to become professor of astronomy, zoology, and natural history at Amherst College, a position he retained till his death in 1853, aged 39. He visited the West Indies several times in the interest of science, and wrote on

conchology Conchology, from Ancient Greek κόγχος (''kónkhos''), meaning "cockle (bivalve), cockle", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is the study of mollusc shells. Conchology is one aspect of malacology, the study of mollus ...

. He was elected a Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

in 1849.

Works

With the assistance of Alonzo Gray of

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, he published an elementary work on

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

. He was the author of eleven numbers of ''Contributions to Conchology'', monographs on '' Stoastoma'' and ''

Vitrinella ''Vitrinella'' is a genus of minute sea snails, Marine (ocean), marine gastropod mollusks or micromollusks in the family Vitrinellidae.Rosenberg, G.; Bouchet, P. (2015). Vitrinella. In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Ma ...

'', and ''Catalogue of Shells Collected in

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

'' (New York, 1852). * Adams C. B. (1852)
''Catalogue of shells collected at Panama, with notes on their synonymy, station, and geographical distribution''
New York, R. Craighead, printer. 334 pp. * Gray A. & Adams C. B. (1860)
''Elements of geology''
New York, Harper. 554 pp.

Notes

References

American National Biography The ''American National Biography'' (ANB) is a 24-volume biographical encyclopedia set that contains about 17,400 entries and 20 million words, first published in 1999 by Oxford University Press under the auspices of the American Council of Lea ...

, vol. 1, pp. 72–73. *''Who Was Who in America: Historical Volume, 1607-1896.'' Chicago: Quincy Who's Who, 1963. *

External links

* 1814 births 1853 deaths American geologists Amherst College alumni Amherst College faculty Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Middlebury College faculty People from Dorchester, Boston American science teachers Conchologists {{US-geologist-stub