Wilmot Hyde Bradley, a.k.a. "Bill" Bradley (4 April 1899 in

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

, CT – 12 April 1979 in Bangor, ME) was a co-founder (1943) and Chief of the Branch of Military Geology and Chief Geologist of the

U.S. Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and ...

from 1944 to 1959. He was the son of Anna Miner Hyde and John Lucius Bradley. He attended college at the

Sheffield Scientific School Sheffield Scientific School was founded in 1847 as a school of Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut, for instruction in science and engineering. Originally named the Yale Scientific School, it was renamed in 1861 in honor of Joseph E. Sheffield, ...

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 ...

and graduated from Yale in 1920 with a Ph.D. in geology, after switching from engineering and chemistry. After two years as geologic aide to Julian D. Sears of the U. S. Geological Survey, he was taken on by the Survey to work full-time on the

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene' ...

Green River Formation The Green River Formation is an Eocene geologic formation that records the sedimentation in a group of intermountain lakes in three basins along the present-day Green River in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah. The sediments are deposited in very fine ...

because of its oil-shale potential. As a result of his work there, the mineral "trisodium magnesium phosphate carbonate" was named Bradleyite in his honor. On the conclusion of his 48-year career with the Geological Survey in 1970, Bill and his wife retired to

Pigeon Hill Bay Pigeon Hill Bay is a bay in Washington County, Maine. Divided between the towns of Milbridge and Steuben, it is separated from the Gulf of Maine , image = , alt = , caption = , image_bathymetry ...

, Maine, where he continued writing his results from years of research on the Green River Formations and Mud Lake. Bradley was elected to the United States

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

in 1946, the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

in 1949, the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

in 1963, served as president of The

Geological Society of America The Geological Society of America (GSA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of the geosciences. History The society was founded in Ithaca, New York, in 1888 by Alexander Winchell, John J. Stevenson, Charles H. Hitchco ...

(GSA) in 1965 and was awarded GSA's

Penrose Medal The Penrose Medal was created in 1925 by R.A.F. Penrose, Jr., as the top prize awarded by the Geological Society of America. Originally created as the Geological Society of America Medal it was soon renamed the Penrose Medal by popular assent of t ...

in 1972. Bill Bradley was buried at a tiny local graveyard situated on his property at Pigeon Hill Road, Steuben, Maine. On his gravestone, he had engraved in advance the phrase, "The Earth has music for those who listen". (Although this phrase is of uncertain origin, a similar phrase -- "The Earth has its music for those who will listen"—first appeared in print in 1955 in a poem by Reginald Vincent Holmes.)

References

External links

National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir by E.V. McKelveyWorldCat Identities: W. H. BradleyNational Academies Press: Photograph of Wilmot Hyde Bradley
1899 births 1979 deaths 20th-century American geologists Presidents of the Geological Society of America Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences {{US-geologist-stub Members of the American Philosophical Society