Erasmus Haworth (1855–1932) was an American

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

. Born on a farm near Indianola, Iowa, he graduated from the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1881 and received a master's degree there in 1884. He received his doctoral degree from

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

in 1888. He taught at various colleges, and was appointed professor of geology and mineralogy at the

in 1892, where he remained until 1920. Today, Haworth Hall, a building named after Haworth, houses the Division of Biological Sciences at the University of Kansas. He organized the Kansas Geological Survey in 1894, and wrote several volumes of the survey from 1896 to 1904. He was state geologist from 1894 to 1915. In this position, he was instrumental in finding an ample water supply for Wichita and Newton. In 1903, he collected a sample of gas from a well drilled in Dexter, Kansas and had it analyzed by colleagues in the university's Department of Chemistry. The sample was found to contain

helium Helium (from ) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol He and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, non-toxic, inert gas, inert, monatomic gas and the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table. Its boiling point is ...

, which was previously believed to be rare on earth. In the late 1890s and early 1900s, Haworth repeatedly used his position as state geologist to warn against investing in phony

zinc Zinc is a chemical element; it has symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodic tabl ...

and

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

deposits in Trego and Ellis counties, Kansas. The politically influential promoters threatened to have Haworth fired from the university for his interference, but it eventually became clear that the deposits were an illusion and a swindle, and Haworth was vindicated.Dan Plazak (2007
''The imaginary gold mines of Kansas''
Mining History Journal, v.14, p.11-22. Haworth was connected with 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 ...

, and wrote several of its bulletins as well as bulletins for the Missouri Geological Survey and annual bulletins of statistics of the mineralogy and geology of Kansas. He also worked professionally for the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

company in

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

and

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

, and for private parties in Kansas and adjacent states. He was a fellow 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 ...

and other scientific societies.

References

External links

*DiZerega, Dottie. ''Erasmus Haworth'', a family history. Retrieved July 10, 2006 from https://web.archive.org/web/20070320152801/http://www.haworthassociation.org/Bios/Erasmus/erasmus.htm, the Haworth Association of America. American geologists 1855 births 1932 deaths Fellows of the Geological Society of America People from Indianola, Iowa University of Kansas alumni Johns Hopkins University alumni {{US-geologist-stub