Josiah Whitney

Josiah Dwight Whitney (1819 to 1896) was an American geologist, professor of geology at Harvard University and chief of the California Geological Survey from 1860 to 1874. Born in Northampton, Massachusetts, he studied at Yale and trained in chemistry and geology in France and Germany after hearing a lecture by Charles Lyell. After surveying the Lake Superior district of Michigan he became the foremost authority of his day on the economic geology of the United States, and his book The Metallic Wealth of the United States appeared in 1854. Members of his California survey named Mount Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous United States, and the Whitney Glacier on Mount Shasta after him. He trained younger scientists such as Clarence King and William Brewer.