Henry Darwin Rogers was one of the first professional geologists in the United States. He directed two of the earliest state geological surveys--New Jersey and Pennsylvania--in the mid-1830s. His major interest was Pennsylvania, with its Appalachian Mountains, which Rogers saw as great folds of sedimentary rock. He belived that an interpretation of these folds would lead to an understanding of the dynamic processes that had shaped the earth. From Rogers' efforts to explain these Pennsylvania folds came the first uniquely American theory of mountain elevation, a theory that Rogers personally considered his most significant achievement.
FiguresPrefaceTo Have Some Certain and Definite Object in View, 1808–1829Acquiring an Intimacy with Geology, 1829–1833Promoting an Interesting Branch of Science, 1833–1835Field Research of a Scientific Kind, 1835–1836Questions of the Highest Importance, 1836–1837Cautious and Laborious Research, 1838–1840A Capricious Master, 1840–1842A Theory So Much More Satisfactory, 1842–1843Names Make General Propositions Possible, 1843–1844A Mind and a Heart with Scope to Unfold, 1843–1845Faithful Labours Cruelly Repaid, 1846–1848A Spirit Oppressed, 1848–1851In Pursuit of a Great Objective, 1845–1852Few to Take an Interest in My Volumes, 1852–1855To Leave a Land Sterile of Friendship, 1855–1857The Facts Are Better than the Theory, 1857–1858A Greatly Respected Man, 1859–1866AbbreviationsNotesBibliographyIndex
Patsy Gerstner is Chief Curator, Historical Division, Cleveland Health Sciences Library, and Adjunct Associate Professor of History at Case Western Reserve University.
