Samuel Calvin (February 2, 1840 – April 17, 1911) was

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

's first systematic

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, ...

, helping to make the first bedrock and landform maps of Iowa, as well as leading geological research throughout the state. He was born in Scotland, attended

Lenox College Lenox College was a college in Hopkinton, Iowa that operated from 1859 until its closure in 1944. The institution was initially known as Bowen Collegiate Institute. The name was changed to Lenox Collegiate Institute in October 1864 and to Lenox ...

(now defunct) in

Hopkinton, Iowa Hopkinton is a city in Delaware County, Iowa, United States. The population was 622 at the time of the 2020 census. History Hopkinton was laid out in 1850, and it was incorporated in 1874. The city is the former home of Lenox College, a sm ...

, where he later taught. One of his collaborators was

Thomas Huston Macbride Thomas Huston Macbride (July 31, 1848 – March 27, 1934) was the tenth president of the University of Iowa, serving from 1914 to 1916. Macbride was a naturalist and botanist, Macbride Hall at the University of Iowa is named for him. He often c ...

, the notable Iowa naturalist. Calvin became a

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

professor in 1873 and the Iowa State Geologist in 1892, and led the Iowa Geological Survey from 1892 until his death. Calvin documented the

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian per ...

and

Aftonian The Pre-Illinoian Stage is used by Quaternary geologists for the early and middle Pleistocene glacial and interglacial periods of geologic time in North America from ~2.5–0.2 Ma (million years ago). North America As the oldest stage in th ...

beds of Iowa, and was an expert on

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

fauna. He was a founder of the '' American Geologist'' journal. Calvin Hall at the

is named for him. His photographic collection of Iowa scenes is an important collection for historians and geologists. Calvin was president 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 1908.Eckel, Edwin, 1982, GSA Memoir 155, The Geological Society of America — Life History of a Learned Society: Boulder, Colorado, Geological Society of America Memoir 155, 168 p., .

References

External links

Calvin Photographic Collection
* Th
Samuel Calvin Papers
are housed at the University of Iowa Special Collections & University Archives.
Calvin Geological Photographs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Calvin, Samuel Geology of Iowa University of Iowa faculty American geologists 1840 births 1911 deaths Presidents of the Geological Society of America Lenox College alumni