| William John McGee | |
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Washington, DC (1900)
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| Born | April 17, 1853 Farley, Iowa near Dubuque |
| Died | September 4, 1912 |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields | geology, anthropology, and ethnology |
William John McGee, LL.D. (April 17, 1853 - September 4, 1912) was an American inventor, geologist, anthropologist, and ethnologist, born in Farley, Iowa. [1]
He was self-educated.[2] He devoted his early years to reading law and to surveying. He invented and patented several improvements on agricultural implements.[2]
He subsequently turned his attention to geology.[2] In 1877-81, he executed a topographic and geological survey of 17,000 square miles (44,030 km²) in northeastern Iowa.[3][4][5] In addition to these researches, part of an examination of the loess of the Mississippi Valley, he examined the great quaternary lakes of Nevada and California and studied a recent fault movement in the middle Atlantic slope.[2]
He was appointed geologist for the United States Geological Survey in 1881. In that capacity he visited the city of Charleston, South Carolina, in 1886 for the purpose of studying the earthquake disturbances in its vicinity.
McGee was ethnologist in charge of the Bureau of American Ethnology from 1893 to 1903. In 1895, he explored the Isla del Tiburón, Gulf of California, home of the Seri Indians.[6] In 1904 he was chief of the department of anthropology at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, the 1904 World's Fair, and in 1907 he was appointed a member of the Inland Waterways Commission by President Roosevelt.[7] His other prominent positions were: acting president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1897-98); president of the American Anthropological Association (1902-12); and president of the National Geographic Society (1904-05).
His publications include:
Works by William John McGee at Project Gutenberg