Thomas Chamberlin
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Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin (1843 - 1928) was an American geologist (or geophysicist), born at Mattoon, Ill. He graduated at Beloit College in 1866, studied science at Michigan University, and from 1869-73 was professor of natural science at State Normal School, Whitewater, Wis. He worked for the US Geological Survey and later was president of the University of Wisconsin (1887 - 1892), and a professor at the University of Chicago (1892 - 1918). From 1898 to 1914 he was president of the Chicago Academy of Sciences.
He developed the planetesimal theory, which states that Earth was made from smaller objects that gradually built the planets by accretion. From this theory and other geological evidence he concluded that Earth was much older than assumed by Lord Kelvin (ca 100 million years) at the time.
In 1893 he founded the Journal of Geology, of which he was editor for many years. A crater on Mars is named in his honor. His publications include:
- Outline of a Course of Oral Instruction (1872)
- Geology of Wisconsin (1877)
- Contribution to the Theory of Glacial Motion (1904)
- with R. D. Salisbury, Geology (three volumes, 1907-09)
- The Origin of the Earth (1916)