Dana, James Dwight

James Dwight (1813-1895), an eminent American geologist. He was born at Utica, New York. He was graduated at Yale in 1833. In 1838 the United States government sent an expedition under Lieutenant Wilkes to explore and survey the southern seas. Mr. Dana was fortunate enough to be appointed the official mineralogist and geologist. Later he became Silliman professor of natural history and geology at Yale. Professor Dana contributed many articles to scientific journals. He was the author, also, of a number of textbooks, including a Manual of Geology, Textbook of Geology, The Geological Story Briefly Told, and Manual of Mineralogy. He also wrote a volume on Coral Reefs and Islands. He applied the term "Archaean" to the oldest rocks and proposed that the Archaean Age be recognized as the earliest geologic period. His classification has been adopted very generally by American geologists.