Samuel Howell "Doc" Knight (31 July 1892 – 1 February 1975) was an American geologist who taught at the

University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a public land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, and opened in September 1887. The University of Wyoming ...

and also served as a state geologist from 1933 to 1941. Known as "Doc" Knight, he was an influential teacher, noted for his use of multi-colour chalk illustrations to teach geology over a span of fifty years. Knight was born to Wilbur Clinton Knight and Emma Howell who had both studied at the University of Nebraska. Wilbur took up a position as a mining engineer at Florence, Keystone, west of Laramie and later became a state geologist. His mother was a county superintendent of schools. At a young age Knight was introduced to geology, and collected fossils with Professor William Reed, curator of the University of Wyoming museum. His father was also a keen fossil hunter, collecting 70 tons of material for the collections and is credited with the production of the first geology map of Wyoming. The fossil ''

Knightia ''Knightia'' is an extinct genus of clupeid bony fish that lived in the freshwater lakes and rivers of North America and Asia during the Eocene epoch. The genus was erected by David Starr Jordan in 1907, in honor of the late University of Wyom ...

'' was named in honour of Wilbur Clinton Knight. The After schooling at Laramie, he went to the University of Wyoming, graduating in 1913. He then joined

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 ...

where he studied under A. W. Grabau and D.W. Johnson, receiving a PhD in 1916. He then became an assistant professor of geology. In 1917 he was recruited into

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

for studying the terrain in Europe for military requirements. A skilled artist and designer, he was involved in making a life-size cast of ''

Tyrannosaurus rex ''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosaurus'' live ...

''. In 1933 he served as State Geologist for Wyoming. Knight also conducted outdoors science camps in geology at the Medicine Bow Mountains west of Laramie. Knight married his fellow student from Columbia, Edwina Hall, in 1916 and they had two children. Knight died at Laramie and is buried at Greenhill Cemetery.

References

External links

Samuel H. Knight, "Mr. Geology of Wyoming" by Alexandra Hullinger (2014)

Samuel Knight photograph collection at the American Heritage Center
{{DEFAULTSORT:Knight, Samuel Howell American geologists 1892 births 1975 deaths University of Wyoming faculty