Richard Alexander Fullerton Penrose was an American geologist. He was also an entrepreneur.
Background
Richard Alexander Fullerton Penrose was born on December 17, 1863 in Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, United States. He was the fourth of seven sons of Richard Alexander Fullerton Penrose (1827 - 1908) and Sarah Hannah (Boies) and was a younger brother of Boies Penrose.
Education
Entering Harvard University in 1880, Richard Alexander Fullerton Penrose graduated in 1884, remaining for further work and receiving the degree of Ph. D. in 1886.
Career
In 1885 - 1886 Richard Alexander Fullerton Penrose accompanied Professor N. S. Shaler on a geological exploration. His years at Harvard were noteworthy not only for high scholarship but for an active interest in athletics; in 1885 and 1886 he was stroke on the University crew. His serious work in his chosen field, applied geology, began with the preparation of his thesis, "The Nature and Origin of Deposits of Phosphate of Lime" (published in 1888 as Bulletin of the United States Geological Survey, no. 46).
From 1886 to 1888 Charles Alexander Fulleron Penrose was manager of mines for the Anglo-Canadian Phosphate Company and was subsequently appointed to undertake surveys of mineral deposits for the states of Texas (1888 - 89) and Arkansas (1889 - 1892). The results of this work appeared in eight published reports, the most significant of which were "A Preliminary Report on the Geology of the Gulf Tertiary of Texas from Red River to the Rio Grande, " First Annual Report of the Geological Survey of Texas, 1889 (1890), vol. I; "Manganese, its Uses, Ores and Deposits, " Annual Report of the Geological Survey of Arkansas, for 1890 (1891), vol. I; "The Iron Deposits of Arkansas, " Ibid. , 1892, vol. I (1892).
In 1892, with the founding of the University of Chicago, Charles Alexander Fullerton Penrose was offered and accepted an associate professorship of economic geology. Promoted to full professor in 1895, he held the position until 1911, when the pressure of growing responsibilities in his mining enterprises made it impossible for him longer to devote any of his time to teaching. From 1893 to 1911 he was an associate editor of the Journal of Geology. Noteworthy papers not previously mentioned include: "The Superficial Alteration of Ore Deposits" (Journal of Geology, April-May 1894) and "Some Causes of Ore Shoots" (Economic Geology, March 1910).
Meanwhile, in 1894 Richard Alexander Fullerton Penrose was appointed a special geologist of the United States Geological Survey to examine the gold district of Cripple Creek, Colorado, then in its active period of development. The results of this study were published by the government. ("Mining Geology of the Cripple Creek District, Colorado, " in Sixteenth Annual Report of the United States Geological Survey 1894 - 1895, pt. 2, 1895).
In 1895 Richard Alexander Fullerton became one of the founders of the Commonwealth Mining & Milling Company at what is now Pearce, Arizona, of which he was president from 1896 to 1903. In the latter year he was associated with his brother Spencer Penrose, D. C. Jackling, and others in the founding of the Utah Copper Company at Bingham, Utah, which was eventually to develop into the largest copper producing property in North America.
Richard Alexander Fullerton Penrose was a founder and first president (1920 - 1921) of the Society of Economic Geologists and the year before his death was chosen president of the Geological Society of America. His loyalties to his scientific associates were shown during his lifetime by many gifts, always unostentatious, for the support of scientific work, he established the Penrose Gold Medal of the Geological Society of America and of the Society of Economic Geologists, and were evidenced at his death by munificent bequests to the Geological Society of America and to the leading American journals of pure and applied geology by virtue of which he became the foremost patron of his science.
In his native city, Richard Alexander Fullerton Penrose served as trustee of the University of Pennsylvania (1911 - 1927), president (1922 - 1926) of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, member of the Fairmount Park Commission (1927 - 1931), and trustee of the Free Public Library of Philadelphia. He died in Philadelphia of chronic nephritis and arteriosclerosis on July 31, 1931.
Achievements
Connections
Richard Alexander Fullerton Penrose was unmarried.