Joseph Le Conte (alternative spelling: Joseph LeConte) (February 26, 1823 – July 6, 1901) was a physician,
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, ...
, professor at the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...
, early California conservationist, and eugenicist.
Early life
Of
Huguenot
The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...
descent, he was born in
Liberty County, Georgia
Liberty County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population is 65,256. The county seat is Hinesville, Georgia, Hinesville.
Liberty Coun ...
, to Louis Le Conte, patriarch of the noted
LeConte family, and Ann Quarterman.
He was educated at Franklin College in
Athens, Georgia
Athens is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Downtown Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta. The University of Georgia, the state's flagship public university and an Research I university, ...
(now the
Franklin College of Arts and Sciences at the
University of Georgia
The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...
), where he was a member of the
Phi Kappa Literary Society. After graduation in 1841, he studied medicine and received his degree at the
New York College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1845.
(In 1844 he travelled with his cousin
John Lawrence LeConte
John Lawrence LeConte MD (May 13, 1825 – November 15, 1883) was an American entomology, entomologist, responsible for naming and describing approximately half of the insect taxon, taxa known in the United States during his lifetime, for over one thousand miles along the
Upper Mississippi River
The Upper Mississippi River is the portion of the Mississippi River upstream of St. Louis, Missouri, United States, a city at the confluence of its main tributary, the Missouri River. Historically, it may refer to the area above the Arkansa ...
in a birchbark canoe.
[) After practising for three or four years in ]Macon, Georgia
Macon ( ), officially Macon–Bibb County, is a consolidated city-county in Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. Situated near the Atlantic Seaboard fall line, fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is southeast of Atlanta and near the ...
, he entered 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 ...
and studied natural history under Louis Agassiz
Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz ( ; ) FRS (For) FRSE (May 28, 1807 – December 14, 1873) was a Swiss-born American biologist and geologist who is recognized as a scholar of Earth's natural history.
Spending his early life in Switzerland, he recei ...
. An excursion made with Professors J. Hall and Agassiz to the Helderberg mountains of New York developed a keen interest in geology.
Career
After graduating from Harvard, Le Conte in 1851 accompanied Agassiz on an expedition to study the Florida Reef. On his return he became professor of natural science at Oglethorpe University
Oglethorpe University is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Brookhaven, Georgia, United States. It was chartered in 1835 and named in honor of General James Edward Oglethorpe, founder ...
, which was located in Midway, Georgia
Midway is a city in Liberty County, Georgia, United States. It is a part of the Hinesville-Fort Stewart metropolitan statistical area. The population was 2,141 in 2020.
Midway has several museums, including the Midway Museum and the Dorchest ...
, at the time, and from December 1852 until 1856 professor of natural history and geology at Franklin College (the sole college at the University of Georgia at that time). From 1857 to 1869 he was a professor of chemistry and geology at South Carolina College, which is now the University of South Carolina
The University of South Carolina (USC, SC, or Carolina) is a Public university, public research university in Columbia, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1801 as South Carolina College, It is the flagship of the University of South Car ...
.
On January 14, 1846, he married Caroline Nisbet, a niece of Eugenius A. Nisbet. The Le Conte(s) had four children grow to adulthood: Emma Florence Le Conte, Sarah Elizabeth Le Conte, Caroline Eaton Le Conte, and Joseph Nisbet Le Conte.
During the Civil War
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
Le Conte continued to teach in South Carolina. He also produced medicine and was involved in research and development
Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in some countries as OKB, experiment and design, is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products. R&D constitutes the first stage ...
operations of the Confederate Nitre and Mining Bureau The Confederate Nitre and Mining Bureau was a civilian government bureau to provide the Confederate States of America with needed materials such as copper, iron, lead, saltpeter, sulfur, zinc, and other metals. The Bureau oversaw civilian contracts ...
, associated with the Confederate Secret Service. In his autobiography he wrote that he found Reconstruction
Reconstruction may refer to:
Politics, history, and sociology
*Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company
*''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...
intolerable. He referred to "a carpet-bag governor, scalawag officials, and a negro legislature controlled by rascals" and stated that the " sudden enfranchisement of the negro without qualification was the greatest political crime ever perpetrated by any people".
Discouraged by unsettled postwar conditions at the University of South Carolina, in 1868 he accepted an offer of a professorship at the newly established University of California
The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...
. In September 1869, he moved west to Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...
. His older brother John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second E ...
had come to California in April 1869, also to join the faculty of the new university as a professor of physics. Joseph was appointed the first professor of geology and natural history and botany at the university, a post which he held until his death.
He was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...
in 1873.
He published a series of papers on monocular and binocular vision Binocular vision is seeing with two eyes. The Field_of_view, field of view that can be surveyed with two eyes is greater than with one eye. To the extent that the visual fields of the two eyes overlap, #Depth, binocular depth can be perceived. Th ...
, and also on psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...
. His chief contributions, however, related to geology. He described the fissure-eruptions in western America, discoursed on earth-crust movements and their causes and on the great features of the Earth's surface. As separate works he published ''Elements of Geology'' (1878, 5th edition 1889); ''Religion and Science'' (1874); and ''Evolution and its Relation to Religious Thought'' (1888). This last work anticipates in structure and argument Teilhard de Chardin's "Phenomenon of Man".(1955). LeConte endorsed theistic evolution
Theistic evolution (also known as theistic evolutionism or God-guided evolution), alternatively called evolutionary creationism, is a view that God acts and creates through laws of nature. Here, God is taken as the primary cause while natural cau ...
.
Legacy
In 1874, he was nominated to 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 president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...
in 1892, and 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 ...
in 1896. Le Conte is also noted for his exploration and preservation of the Sierra Nevada
The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...
of California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
, United States. He first visited Yosemite Valley
Yosemite Valley ( ; ''Yosemite'', Miwok for "killer") is a U-shaped valley, glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in the western Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada mountains of Central California, United States. The valley is about long a ...
in 1870, where he became friends with John Muir
John Muir ( ; April 21, 1838December 24, 1914), also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the national park, National Parks", was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologi ...
and started exploring the Sierra. He became concerned that resource exploitation (such as sheepherding) would ruin the Sierra, so he co-founded the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is an American environmental organization with chapters in all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. The club was founded in 1892, in San Francisco, by preservationist John Muir. A product of the Pro ...
with Muir and others in 1892. He was a director of the Sierra Club from 1892 through 1898. His son, Joseph Nisbet LeConte, was also a noted professor and Sierra Club member.
He died of a heart attack in Yosemite Valley, California, on July 6, 1901, right before the Sierra Club's first High Trip. The Sierra Club built the LeConte Memorial Lodge in his honor in 1904. The Le Conte Glacier, Le Conte Canyon, Le Conte Divide, Le Conte Falls, Le Conte Mountain and Mount Le Conte were named after him. LeConte Hall, which houses the Department of History at the University of Georgia
The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...
, was named for him and his brother. LeConte College, which houses the Department of Mathematics and Statistics near the Horseshoe at the University of South Carolina
The University of South Carolina (USC, SC, or Carolina) is a Public university, public research university in Columbia, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1801 as South Carolina College, It is the flagship of the University of South Car ...
, Le Conte Middle School in Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood ...
, and Le Conte Avenue in Berkeley also honor the two brothers.
Leconte, along with other founders of the Sierra Club were advocates of white supremacy
White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White supremacy has roots in the now-discredited doctrine ...
and supporters of the eugenics movement in the United States. The elementary school at 2241 Russell Street in Berkeley was named for Joseph LeConte from 1892 until 2018, when it was renamed due to concerns regarding his views on race.
Another building at UC Berkeley was also renamed, as announced on July 7, 2020, due to the LeConte brothers' support of white supremacy and vigorous white supremacy writings in that regard.
See also
* Neo-Lamarckism
References
External links
*
LeConte Memorial Lodge in Yosemite Valley, a national historic landmark
National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir
{{DEFAULTSORT:LeConte, Joseph
1823 births
1901 deaths
Sierra Club directors
American geologists
Sierra Nevada (United States)
Harvard University alumni
University of California, Berkeley faculty
University of Georgia alumni
University of Georgia faculty
Oglethorpe University faculty
University of South Carolina faculty
History of the Sierra Nevada (United States)
People from Macon, Georgia
People from Liberty County, Georgia
Burials at Mountain View Cemetery (Oakland, California)
Theistic evolutionists
Presidents of the Geological Society of America
American eugenicists
American white supremacists
Members of the American Philosophical Society