William Frederick Foshag (March 17, 1894 – May 21, 1956) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

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 ...

and mineralogist.William F. Foshag
at the SIA Archives. He published nearly 100 papers and described 13 new minerals, including foshagite.William F. Foshag: Expert in the Mineralogy and Geology of Mexico, Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Archives
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Biography

Foshag received his bachelor's degree from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in 1919 and then joined the U.S. National Museum, now called the

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2021, with 7 ...

. After joining the National Museum he earned his Ph.D. in 1923 from U.C. Berkeley with the thesis ''The origin of the colemanite deposit of the western United States''. As head curator of the Museum's Department of Geology, Foshag greatly increased the Museum’s mineral collections and its collections of gemstones. During his tenure and in large part due to his efforts, the Museum received both the Washington Roebling and Frederick Canfield mineral collections, which ranked among the world's best private collections of minerals and gems collections in the world — the Roebling collection had about 16,000 specimens. The Roebling and Canfield gifts included large endowments of money. From 1926 to 1941 Foshag’s work in Mexico was largely funded by the Roebling Fund. Much of Foshag's fame stems from his study of the Parícutin volcano, which for the first time gave scientists an opportunity to study a volcano's entire "life cycle." Foshag was in Mexico in 1943 when the Parícutin volcano first appeared. He remained in Mexico for more than two years documenting the growth of Parícutin. In 1946 Foshag and Edward P. Henderson traveled to Japan to examine gemstones confiscated by the U.S. Army; the two experts spent more than four months there sorting and appraising gemstones, worth some $25 million in 1946 U.S. dollars. Foshag and Henderson met Mikimoto Kokichi at Japan. Based upon his discovery, in Guatemala's Motagua Valley, of the only in situ jadeitite locality south of the U.S. border, Foshag in 1949 was commissioned by the Guatemalan government to survey jade objects from pre-Columbian Central America. For many years until his death in 1956, Foshag was the head curator of the National Museum's Department of Geology. He was survived by his wife, Merle Crisler Foshag (1899–1977), an artist who worked in the same department.

Selected publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foshag, William F. 1894 births 1956 deaths 20th-century American geologists American mineralogists University of California, Berkeley alumni