Timothy Abbott Conrad (June 21, 1803 in

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

and malacologist.

Biography

He was from early life an investigator of American paleontology and natural history, devoting himself to the study of the shells of the Tertiary and Cretaceous formations, and to existing species of

mollusks Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

. In 1831 he began the issue of a work on “American Marine Conchology,” and the year following published the first number of his “Fossil Shells of the Tertiary Formation,” which was never completed. A “Monography of the Family Unionidae” was issued between 1835 and 1847. The lithographed plates in his publications were in part his own work. He contributed many articles to the ''

American Journal of Science The ''American Journal of Science'' (''AJS'') is the United States of America's longest-running scientific journal, having been published continuously since its conception in 1818 by Professor Benjamin Silliman, who edited and financed it himself ...

'' and the ''Journal of the Philadelphia Academy of Science''. As one of the

New York state New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

geologists he prepared the geological report for 1837. He was paleontologist of the New York Geological Survey from 1838 until 1841, and wrote the annual reports in that department. He also made the reports of paleontological discoveries in the Pacific Railroad Survey and the Mexican Boundary Survey. He defended the theory of periodical refrigeration, and suggested that the Mississippi depression was the consequence of the upheaval of the Appalachians and the later elevation of the area of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

. A list of his scientific papers is given in the catalogue of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

of England. The

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

elected Conrad to Membership in 1865 for his contributions to science.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Conrad, Timothy Abbott 1803 births 1877 deaths 19th-century American biologists 19th-century American geologists American malacologists Military personnel from Trenton, New Jersey Scientists from New Jersey Scientists from New York (state)

Biography

See also

References

External links