Oliver Cummings Farrington (October 9, 1864 – November 2, 1933) was an American

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

Biography

Oliver C. Farrington was born at Brewer, Maine on October 9, 1864, and was educated at the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine or UMO) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universities, flagshi ...

(

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

, 1881;

M.S. A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

, 1888) and at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

(

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

, 1891), where he was tutor in 1890-91. Between 1882 and 1887 he taught science in various Maine academies, in 1893 he was an assistant in the

United States National Museum The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

, in 1894 he became

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

geology in the

Field Museum of Natural History The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is popular for the size and quality of its educational ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, and from 1894 to 1904 he was lecturer on

mineralogy Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifacts. Specific studies within mineralogy include the proces ...

at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

. He was a collaborator in mines and mineralogy at the Paris Exposition in 1900 and a member of the International Jury of Awards at St. Louis in 1904. He was the president of the American Association of Museums (now the American Alliance of Museums) in 1914–16. He was elected in 1909 a Fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

(AAAS). He died in Chicago on November 2, 1933.

Works

Besides his magazine articles, he was author of:
''Observations of Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl''
(1897) (See Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl.)
''Meteorite Studies—I''
(1902)
''Meteorite Studies—II''
(1907)
''Meteorite Studies—III
(1910)

(1903)
''Analyses of Iron Meteorites''
(1907) (See

iron meteorite Iron meteorites, also known as siderites, or ferrous meteorites, are a type of meteorite that consist overwhelmingly of an iron–nickel alloy known as meteoric iron that usually consists of two mineral phases: kamacite and taenite. Most iron met ...

.)
''Analyses of Stone Meteorites''
(1911) (See

meteorite classification In meteoritics, a meteorite classification system attempts to group similar meteorite, meteorites and allows scientists to communicate with a standardized terminology when discussing them. Meteorites are classified according to a variety of chara ...

.) The mineral farringtonite, first found in the

Springwater meteorite The Springwater meteorite is a stony-iron pallasite, found near Springwater, Saskatchewan in 1931. At that time the find consisted of three large masses (, and . Other fragments have been found recently, including a individual in 2009 that i ...

, is named in his honor.

References

External links

Gem and Gem minerals by Oliver Farrington
(Full text online version) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Farrington, Oliver C. American geologists American science writers 1864 births 1934 deaths Yale University alumni American curators People associated with the Field Museum of Natural History People from Brewer, Maine Meteorite researchers Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Biography

Works

See also

References

External links