| Benjamin Kendall Emerson | |
|---|---|
This is a portrait of Emerson, circa 1902. |
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| Born | December 20, 1843 Nashua, New Hampshire |
| Died | April 7, 1932 Amherst, Massachusetts |
| Occupation | Geologist, author. |
Benjamin Kendall Emerson (December 20, 1843 – April 7, 1932) was an American geologist and author.
Emerson graduated from Amherst College in 1865. He went on to study in Germany at the University of Berlin, and received his doctorate from the University of Göttingen in 1870. He returned to the United States where he joined the faculty at Amherst, where he was professor of geology and related sciences from 1872 to 1917 and simultaneously at Smith College from 1878 to 1912. He was also assistant geologist from 1890 to 1896, and later geologist from 1896 to 1920 for the United States Geological Survey. He was president of the Geological Society of America.
His chief fields of study were western Massachusetts, the Connecticut River valley, and Rhode Island.
Among his works are Geology of Old Hampshire County, Massachusetts (1898), Geology of Massachusetts and Rhode Island (1917), and a report (1904) on the Harriman Expedition to Alaska. The Archives and Special Collections at Amherst College holds a collection of his papers.