James Dwight Dana
James Dwight Dana (
February 12 1813–
April 14 1895) was an
American geologist,
mineralogist and
zoologist. He made important studies of mountain-building,
volcanic activity, and the origin and structure of continents and oceans.
Dana was born in
Utica, New York. He showed an early interest in science, which had been fostered by Fay Edgerton, a teacher in the Utica high school, and in
1830 he entered
Yale College, in order to study under
Benjamin Silliman the elder. Graduating in
1833, for the next two years he was teacher of
mathematics to
midshipmen in the
Navy, and sailed to the
Mediterranean while engaged in his duties.
In
1836 and
1837 he was assistant to Professor Silliman in the chemical laboratory at Yale, and then, for four years, acted as mineralogist and geologist of the
United States Exploring Expedition, commanded by Captain
Charles Wilkes, in the
Pacific Ocean. His labours in preparing the reports of his explorations occupied parts of thirteen years after his return to America in
1842. His notebooks from the four years of travel contained fifty sketches, maps, and diagrams, including views of both
Mount Shasta and
Castle Crags. Dana's sketch of
Mount Shasta was engraved in
1849 for publication in the
American Journal of Science and Art along with a lengthy article based on Dana's
1841 geological notes. In the article he described in scientific terms the rocks, minerals, and geology of the Shasta region. As far as is known, his sketch of
Mount Shasta became the second view of the mountain ever published.
In
1844 he again became a resident of
New Haven, married the daughter of Professor
Benjamin Silliman, and in
1850, on the resignation of the latter, was appointed Silliman Professor of Natural History and Geology in Yale College, a position which he held until
1892. In
1846 he became joint editor and during the later years of his life he was chief editor of the
American Journal of Science and Arts (founded in 1818 by Silliman), to which he was a constant contributor, principally of articles on geology and mineralogy.
The reason for the
1849 publishing of his geology journal of
Mount Shasta was undoubtedly in response to the
gold rush publicity. Dana was the pre-eminent U.S.
geologist of his time, and he also was one of the few trained observers anywhere who had first hand knowledge of the northern
California terrain. He had previously written that there was likelihood that gold was to be found all along the route between the
Umpqua River in
Oregon and the
Sacramento Valley. He was probably deluged with inquiries about the Shasta region, and was forced to publish in more detail some advice to the would-be gold
miners.
Dana's best known books were his
System of Mineralogy (
1837) and
Manual of Geology (
1862). A bibliographical list of his writings shows 214 titles of books and papers, beginning in 1835 with a paper on the conditions of
Vesuvius in
1834. His reports on
Zoophytes, on the Geology of the Pacific Area, and on
Crustacea, summarizing his work on the
Wilkes Expedition, appeared from
1846 onwards. Other works included
Manual of Mineralogy (1848), afterwards entitled
Manual of Mineralogy and Lithology (ed. 4, 1887); and
Corals and Coral Islands (
1872; ed. 2,
1890). In
1887, Dana revisited the
Hawaiian Islands, and the results of his further investigations were published in a quarto volume in
1890, entitled
Characteristics of Volcanoes.
He was awarded the
Copley Medal by the
Royal Society in
1877, the
Wollaston Medal by the
Geological Society of London in
1874 and the
Clarke Medal by the
Royal Society of New South Wales in
1882.
A
crater on
Mars and a
Dorsum (wrinkle-ridge system) on the
Moon are named in his honor.
Note on the
Manual of Geology by J. D. Dana: This standard university text on mineralogy has been continuously revised and updated (for many years under the title of
Dana's Manual of Geology) and currently is available in its 22nd edition under the title of
Manual of Mineral Science revised by Cornelis Klein. Many old school geologists continue to refer to the book reverently as
Dana.
