Background
Dana was born on February 12, 1813 in Utica, New York. The son of James Dana, a saddler and hardware merchant, and Harriet Dwight, Dana grew up in a respectable, churchgoing family of modest means.
1858
Dana, painted by Daniel Huntington in 1858.
1865
Dana in 1865.
New Haven, CT 06520, United States
In 1830 he entered Yale College as a sophomore in order to study under Benjamin Silliman the elder. He graduated from Yale College in 1833.
(Features new chapters on crystal chemistry and mineral st...)
Features new chapters on crystal chemistry and mineral stability diagrams, more logical treatments of morphology and internal crystal structure along with extensively revised chapters on mineral chemistry and physical properties. Includes outstanding illustrations, hand specimen photographs and transmission electron microscope structure projects.
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geologist mineralogist scientist volcanologist Zoologist
Dana was born on February 12, 1813 in Utica, New York. The son of James Dana, a saddler and hardware merchant, and Harriet Dwight, Dana grew up in a respectable, churchgoing family of modest means.
Dana attended Utica high school and Charles Bartlett’s Academy. In 1830 he entered Yale College as a sophomore in order to study under Benjamin Silliman the elder. He graduated from Yale College in 1833.
In 1833 Dana instructed midshipmen in mathematics on a U. S. Navy cruise to the Mediterranean; he returned to New Haven in 1836 as an assistant to his former teacher, Benjamin Silliman, professor of chemistry and mineralogy at Yale. Evidence of Dana’s great productive energy came at age 24 with the publication in 1837 of A System of Mineralogy, a work of 580 pages that has persisted through numerous editions.
In 1838 Dana joined a United States exploring expedition to the South Seas with Charles Wilkes; he served four years as a geologist and also was responsible for much of the zoological work. Dana spent his intense energy largely on science. From 1844 to 1854, his most productive years, he published about 7,000 printed pages in addition to hundreds of plates, most of which he drew. His writings on the Wilkes expedition include four illustrated quarto volumes and numerous short papers.
The main thrust of Dana’s effort was geological. Among his many publications were the text Manual of Mineralogy (1848) and three editions of A System of Mineralogy (1837), including a complete revision in which he founded a classification of minerals based on mathematics, physics, and chemistry. More significant to Dana’s impact on American geology during this decade was the start of his long association with the American Journal of Science, a leading organ of scientific inquiry founded by Benjamin Silliman. As an editor and contributor of critical reviews, original papers, and perceptive syntheses, Dana exerted a vitalizing influence on American geology. From his own studies and his mastery of the works of other American and foreign geologists, Dana constructed a view of the Earth as a geologic unity developing through time. Adopting the theory of a contracting Earth cooling from a molten condition, he argued that the present continents mark areas that cooled first; subsequent contractions caused the intervening oceanic areas to subside. As settling oceanic crusts adapted periodically to a shrinking interior, pressure was exerted against continental margins causing upheaval of great mountain chains such as the Appalachians, Rockies, and Andes. Dana stressed the progressive change of the Earth’s physical features but at first was reluctant to accept the idea of the evolution of living things.
(Features new chapters on crystal chemistry and mineral st...)
Always a deeply religious man, Dana believed in the special creation of species, yet he was keenly aware of the intricate relationships between species and their environment.
In 1844, Dana married Henrietta Silliman, the daughter of his mentor at Yale, professor Silliman. Their son, Edward Salisbury Dana (1849-1935), was also a distinguished mineralogist.