Benjamin Kendall Emerson was an American geologist. His chief field of study was the geology of western Massachusetts, the Connecticut River valley, and Rhode Island.
Background
Benjamin Kendall Emerson was born on December 20, 1843 in Nashua, New Hampshire, United States. He belonged to a distinguished New England family that was eminent in the educational world. His father, Benjamin F. Emerson, was a lawyer; his mother was Elizabeth Kendall.
Education
Emerson received his secondary education at Tilton (Vermont) Academy. Inspired by the work of the famous New England geologist Edward Hitchcock, he went to Amherst College, from which he graduated with distinction. After a period of teaching sciences at the old Groton Academy, he studied geology at Berlin and Göttingen, receiving the Ph.D. at the latter in 1870.
Emerson returned to Amherst as instructor in geology and zoology, became professor of geology in 1872, and of geology and theology in 1881. For thirty years he was on the staff of the U.S. Geological Survey. He was a member of the Harriman expedition to Alaska in 1899 and wrote the geologic section of its report.
He recognized transitional metamorphic facies and the metasomatic effects of granitic solutions, giving some emphasis to their role in promoting regional metamorphism. In Geology of Old Hampshire County there is a detailed description of the Bernardston formation (Devonian), basically important in regional correlations; this monograph also provides the first detailed treatment of the igneous and sedimentary rocks of the Triassic basin and of the Pleistocene - chiefly glacial - deposits of the Connecticut Valley. His Mineralogical Lexicon provides a remarkable catalog of mineral occurrences in south-central New England.
Emerson was a founder and original fellow of the Geological Society of America and one of its early presidents (1899). He was also a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Washington Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Geographical Society. He was also a member of the Deutsche Geologische Gesellschaft and several other learned societies.
Geological Society of America
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United States
1899
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
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United States
Washington Academy of Sciences
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United States
American Philosophical Society
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United States
American Geographical Society
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United States
Deutsche Geologische Gesellschaft
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German
Personality
Emerson was an inspiring teacher which is shown by the number of renowned geologists who had been his students.
Physical Characteristics:
In 1893 Emerson was seriously injured in a train wreck in Ohio, but he recovered.
Connections
Emerson married twice; his first wife was Mary Annette Hopkins, the daughter of Reverend Erastus Hopkins of Northampton, Massachusetts. They were married on April 2, 1873, and had six children. His wife died on July 3, 1897; Emerson then married Anna James Seelye, the daughter of Julius Seelye of Amherst, on April 4, 1901. Together they had two children.