John Conover Smock (September 21, 1842 – April 21, 1926) was an American geologist.

Biography

Smock was born in

Holmdel Township, New Jersey Holmdel Township (usually shortened to Holmdel) is a township in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. The township is centrally located in the Raritan Valley region, being within the regional and cultural influence of the Raritan Baysh ...

, graduated at

Rutgers College Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

in 1862, and was tutor in chemistry there 1865–67. He became Professor-elect of Mining and Metallurgy in 1867, holding the chair 1871–75, meantime studying in Germany at the

Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg The Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg (abbreviation: TU Bergakademie Freiberg, TUBAF) is a public Institute of technology, university of technology with currently 3655 students in the city of Freiberg, Saxony, Freiberg, Saxony, Germa ...

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 assistant in charge of the

New York State Museum The New York State Museum is a research-backed institution in Albany, New York, United States. It is located on Madison Avenue, attached to the south side of the Empire State Plaza, facing onto the plaza and towards the New York State Capitol. ...

1885–89, received a Ph.D. from

Lafayette College Lafayette College is a private liberal arts college in Easton, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter and other citizens in Easton, the college first held classes in 1832. The founders voted to name the college after General Laf ...

in 1882, and was manager of the

American Institute of Mining Engineers The American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME) is a professional association for mining and metallurgy, with over 145,000 members. It was founded in 1871 by 22 mining engineers in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Uni ...

1875–77. Smock was associated with

George Hammell Cook George Hammell Cook (January 5, 1818 – September 22, 1889) was the state geologist of New Jersey and vice president of Rutgers College. His geological survey of New Jersey became the predecessor for the U.S. Geological Survey. Biography He wa ...

in preparing the annual reports of the Geological Survey of New Jersey for 1871–84, and in the volumes on ''The Geology of New Jersey'' (1868), and the ''Report on Clay Deposits''; issued, as a bulletin of the State museum, ''On Building-Stones in New York'' (1888). In 1890 he was appointed State Geologist of New Jersey.John Conover Smock
in ''

Marquis Who's Who Marquis Who's Who ( or ) is an American publisher of a number of directories containing short biographies. The books usually are entitled ''Who's Who in...'' followed by some subject, such as ''Who's Who in America'', ''Who's Who of American Wome ...

'' (1902 edition), via

archive.org The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

He died in

Hudson, New York Hudson is a city and the county seat of Columbia County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 5,894. Located on the east side of the Hudson River and 120 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, it was named for the rive ...

, on April 21, 1926.Obituary, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', April 22, 1926

References

1842 births 1926 deaths People from Holmdel Township, New Jersey Rutgers University alumni American geologists {{US-scientist-stub