John Peter Lesley

(John) Peter Lesley (1819-1903) was an American geologist, born in Philadelphia. It is recorded by Sir Archibald Geikie that he was christened Peter after his father and grandfather, and at first wrote his name Peter Lesley, Jr., but disliking the Christian appellation that had been given to him, he eventually transformed his signature by putting the J. of Junior at the beginning. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1838, where he was trained for the ministry. Subsequently, he spent three years assisting Henry D. Rogers in the first geological survey of Pennsylvania.

In 1844 he graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary. He studied in Europe at Halle, returned to the United States in 1845, and was occupied by religious work for five years in Pennsylvania and at Milton, Mass., then returned to Philadelphia and to his earlier geological interests. He made extensive and important researches in the coal, oil, and iron fields of the United States and Canada and became State geologist of Pennsylvania in 1874. From 1872 to 1878 he served as professor of geology at the University of Pennsylvania; after 1886 he was emeritus professor. The year 1863 he spent in Europe, examining the Bessemer ironworks in Sheffield for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and in 1867 he was commissioner to the World's Fair in Paris. In 1884 he was president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Besides many reports and numerous papers in scientific magazines, he published:
* "Manual of coal and its topography: illustrated by original drawings, chiefly of facts in the geology of the Appalachian region of the United States of North America" (1856)
* "Guide to the iron works of the United States" (1858)
* "The iron manufacturer's Guide to the furnaces, forges and rolling mills of the United States" (1859)
* "Report on the Embreeville Iron Property, East Tennessee" (1873)
* "A map and profile of a line of levels along Slippery Rock Creek" (1875)
* "Historical Sketch of Geological Explorations in Pennsylvania" (1876)
* "Man's origin and destiny: sketched from the platform of the sciences, in a course of lectures delivered before the lowell institute, in Boston, in the winter of 1865-6" (1868, 2. ed. 1881)

Publications

* Mary Lesley Ames: "Life and Letters of Peter and Susan Lesley" (two volumes, New York, 1909)

See "Memoir" by Sir A. Geikie in "Quart. Journal Geol. Soc." (May 1904) and "Memoir" (with portrait) by B. S. Lyman, printed in advance with portrait, and afterwards in abstract only in "Trans. Amer. Inst. Mining Engineers", xxxiv. (1904) p. 726.

External links

* [http://www.amphilsoc.org/library/mole/l/lesley.htm J. Peter Lesley Papers from the American Philosophical Society]
* [http://books.nap.edu/html/biomems/plesley.pdf Biographical Memoir of Peter Lesley] by William Morris Davis (Washington, 1915)
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