Josiah Whitney | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Josiah Whitney by Silas Selleck, 1863 | |
| Born | November 23, 1819 |
| Died | August 18, 1896 (aged 76) Lake Sunapee, New Hampshire |
| Alma mater | Yale University |
| Occupation(s) | geologist, professor at Harvard University, Chief at California Geological Survey |
| Known for | Mount Whitney |
| Father | Josiah Dwight Whitney (1786-1869) |
| Relatives | William Dwight Whitney (brother) |
Josiah Dwight Whitney (November 23, 1819 – August 18, 1896) was an American geologist, professor of geology at Harvard University (from 1865), and chief of the California Geological Survey (1860–1874). Through his travels and studies in the principal mining regions of the United States, Whitney became the foremost authority of his day on the economic geology of the U.S.[1] Mount Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous 48 United States, and the Whitney Glacier, the first confirmed glacier in the United States, on Mount Shasta, were both named after him by members of the Survey.
- ^ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). . New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.