Robert Fiske Griggs (August 22, 1881, in

Brooklyn, Connecticut Brooklyn is a town in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 8,450 at the 2020 census. The town center village is listed by the U.S. Census Bureau as a census-designated place. The district of East Brooklyn is listed ...

– June 10, 1962), was a botanist who led a 1915

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, and ...

(NGS) expedition to observe the aftermath of the Katmai volcanic eruption.

National Geographic expeditions

In June 1917, Griggs and the eager NGS explorers rushed to the Katmai coast with the express goal of exploring the

Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes is a valley within Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska which is filled with ash flow from the eruption of Novarupta on June 6–8, 1912. Following the eruption, thousands of fumaroles vented steam from ...

. They quickly worked their way up through the ash-filled Katmai River valley and over the pass. It was a month of terror and elation for the twelve adventurers. Through the long Alaska summer days, they took chemical and geologic samples, shot photographs, and made rough maps. Mincing their way across the crumbling, treacherous surface of the hot ash, they studied the temperatures and temperaments of the roaring fumaroles and explored the perilous margins of the pyroclastic deposits. As they explored and documented the valley, they began to build a picture of the eruption. For five years, the American public had been entranced by the exciting volcanic discoveries in Alaska. Hungry for stories to push the horrors of World War I from their minds, thousands of National Geographic subscribers were thrilled to read Griggs’ gripping articles about the adventures of his exploring parties. As the discoveries unfolded, Griggs became increasingly zealous in his advocacy of the site. His vivid descriptions of the wonders of the Katmai country ignited the interest of what was then a budding conservation movement in the United States. The mysterious volcanic valley seemed an ideal candidate for protection. Griggs and the chiefs of the National Geographic Society campaigned persistently to preserve the area. In 1918, President Woodrow Wilson declared of land as Katmai National Monument.

Academia

He held degrees from

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 ...

(BA),

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

(MA), and

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

(Ph.D.). He taught at Fargo College, Ohio State,

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...

, and

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

Legacy

Griggs' son, David Griggs, was a geophysicist who worked with the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

. He testified in support of the suspension of

J. Robert Oppenheimer J. Robert Oppenheimer (; April 22, 1904 – February 18, 1967) was an American theoretical physicist. A professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, Oppenheimer was the wartime head of the Los Alamos Laboratory and is oft ...

security clearance A security clearance is a status granted to individuals allowing them access to classified information (state or organizational secrets) or to restricted areas, after completion of a thorough background check. The term "security clearance" is ...

. In 1919, botanists

Frank Lincoln Stevens Frank Lincoln Stevens (April 1, 1871, Onondaga County, New York – August 18, 1934, Winnetka, Illinois) was an American mycologist and phytopathologist. He gained an international reputation as one of the preeminent mycologists. Biography Frank Li ...

and Nora Elizabeth Dalbey published ''

Griggsia ''Griggsia'' is a genus of fungi in the class Dothideomycetes. The relationship of this taxon to other taxa within the class is unknown (''incertae sedis''). Also, the placement of this genus within the Dothideomycetes is uncertain. The genus nam ...

'', which is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

fungi A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from ...

in the class

Dothideomycetes Dothideomycetes is the largest and most diverse class of ascomycete fungi. It comprises 11 orders 90 families, 1300 genera and over 19,000 known species. Traditionally, most of its members were included in the loculoascomycetes, which is not par ...

. It was named in Griggs' honor. Knife Peak Volcano, located within the Katmai National Monument, was re-named

Mount Griggs Mount Griggs, formerly known as Knife Peak Volcano, is a stratovolcano, which lies 10 km behind the volcanic arc defined by other Katmai group volcanoes. Although no historic eruptions have been reported from Mount Griggs, vigorously active ...

in 1956 due to Griggs' efforts in the region.

References

External links

Griggs, Robert F. " The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes: An Account of the Discovery and Exploration of the Most Wonderful Volcanic Region in the World," National Geographic (February 1918), 115–169. *
''Griggs, Robert Fiske - Chrono-Biographical Sketch''
1881 births 1962 deaths 20th-century American botanists People from Brooklyn, Connecticut Ohio State University alumni Ohio State University faculty George Washington University faculty University of Pittsburgh faculty University of Minnesota alumni Harvard University alumni {{Botanist-stub