Heinrich Ries (April 30, 1871 – April 11, 1951) was an American economic geologist, born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, and educated at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

and at the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

. He was employed principally at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

, initially as an instructor (1898–1902), as an assistant professor (1902–1905), as professor, and as head of the geological department (1915- ). Professor Ries made numerous reports on

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

published by the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

, th
New York State Geological Survey
and the

Canadian Geological Survey The Geological Survey of Canada (GSC; french: Commission géologique du Canada (CGC)) is a Canadian federal government agency responsible for performing geological surveys of the country, developing Canada's natural resources and protecting the en ...

. His first wife, Millie Timmerman Ries, a botanist and scientific illustrator who collaborated with Elizabeth Britton and

Anna Murray Vail Anna Murray Vail (January 7, 1863 – December 18, 1955) was an American botanist and first librarian of the New York Botanical Garden. She was a student of the Columbia University botanist and geologist Nathaniel Lord Britton, with whom she he ...

, died in 1942. He remarried in 1948, but his second wife, Mrs. Adelyn Halsy Gregg Ries, died early in 1950. He had two sons with his first wife Millie, Professor Victor H. Reis of

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

, and Professor Donald T. Ries of

Illinois State Normal University Illinois State University (ISU) is a public university in Normal, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University, it is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teaching and is recognized as one of th ...

. Ries was president of the

Geological Society of America The Geological Society of America (GSA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of the geosciences. History The society was founded in Ithaca, New York, in 1888 by Alexander Winchell, John J. Stevenson, Charles H. Hitchco ...

in 1929.Eckel, Edwin, 1982, GSA Memoir 155, The Geological Society of America — Life History of a Learned Society: Boulder, Colorado, Geological Society of America Memoir 155, 168 p., .

Publications

*
Clay Deposits and Clay Industry in North Carolina: A Preliminary Report (1897)
' *
Clays and Shales of Michigan: Their Properties and Uses
' (1900) *
Economic Geology of the United States
' (1905; third edition, revised, 1911) *
Clays: Their Occurrence, Properties, and Uses
' (1906, second edition, 1908) * ''Clays of Texas'' (1908) *
History of Clay-Working Industry in the United States
' (1909), with Henry Leighton *
Building Stones and Clay Products: A Handbook for Architects
' (1912) *
Engineering Geology
' (1914; second edition, revised, 1915)

References

External links

*

Cornell University Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ries, Heinrich American geologists American non-fiction writers 1871 births 1951 deaths Columbia University alumni Cornell University faculty United States Geological Survey personnel Economic geologists Presidents of the Geological Society of America