André Dumont

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André Hubert Dumont (February 15, 1809-February 28, 1857) was a Belgian geologist.

Dumont was born at Liège. His first work was a masterly Mémoire on the geology of the province of Liege published in 1832. A few years later he became professor of mineralogy and geology and afterwards rector in the University of Liege. His attention was then given to the mineralogical and stratigraphical characters of the geological formations in Belgium and the names given by him to many subdivisions of Cretaceous and Tertiary ages have been adopted.

His Mémoire sur les terrains ardennais et rhénan de l'Ardenne, du Brabant et du Condroz (1847-1848) is notable for the care with which the mineral characters of the strata were described, but the palaeontological characters were insufficiently considered, and neither the terms Silurian nor Devonian were adopted.

During twenty years he laboured at the preparation of a geological map of Belgium (1849). He spared no pains to make his work as complete as possible, examining on foot almost every area of importance in the country. Journeying to the more southern parts of Europe, he investigated the shores of the Bosphorus, the mountains of Spain and other tracts, and gradually gathered materials for a geological map of Europe: a work of high merit which was one of the first serious attempts to establish on a larger scale the geological correlation of the various countries of Europe.

The Geological Society of London awarded him in 1840 the Wollaston medal. He died at Liège.

[edit] References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. The article is available here.
• Catholic Encyclopedia article