- Fielding Bradford Meek
Fielding Bradford Meek (
December 10 1817 -December 22 1876 ) was an Americangeologist andpaleontologist .The son of a lawyer, he was born in
Madison, Indiana . In early life he was in business as a merchant, but his leisure hours were devoted to collectingfossil s and studying the rocks of the neighborhood of Madison. Being unsuccessful in business he turned his whole attention to science, and in 1848 he gained employment on theU.S. Geological Survey inIowa , and subsequently inWisconsin andMinnesota . In 1852 he became assistant to Professor James Hall atAlbany, New York , and worked at palaeontology with him until 1858. Meanwhile in 1853 he accompanied Dr FV Hayden in an exploration of thebadlands ofDakota and brought back valuable collections of fossils.In 1858 he went to
Washington, D.C. , where he devoted his time to the palaeontological work of the United States geological and geographical surveys, his work bearing the stamp of the most faithful and conscientious research, and raising him to the highest rank as a palaeontologist. About this time, both he and Hayden joined theMegatherium Club at theSmithsonian Institution.Besides many separate contributions to science he prepared with WM Gabb (1839-1878), two volumes or the "palaeontology of California" (1864-1869); and also a "Report on the Invertebrate Cretaceous and Tertiary Fossils of the Upper Missouri Country" (1876). He died of
tuberculosis at Washington in 1876.References
* [http://www.google.co.uk/books?vid=OCLC14929539&id=lgkgyDNDJEAC&pg=RA1-PA75&vq=meek White, Charles A. (1896) "Memoir of Fielding Bradford Meek 1817-1876" "Biographical Memoirs" National Academy of Sciences , pp. 75-91]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.