Joseph LeConte
Encyclopedia
Joseph Le Conte was an American
geologist
and professor at the University of California, Berkeley
.
descent, he was born in Liberty County
, Georgia
to Louis Le Conte, patriarch of the noted Le Conte family. He was educated at Franklin College in Athens, Georgia
(now the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
at the University of Georgia
) where he was a member of the Phi Kappa Literary Society
. After graduation in 1841, he studied medicine and received his degree at the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1845. After practising for three or four years at Macon, Georgia
, he entered Harvard University
, and studied natural history under Louis Agassiz
.
An excursion made with Professors J. Hall and Agassiz to the Helderberg
mountains of New York
developed a keen interest in geology. After graduating at Harvard, Le Conte in 1851 accompanied Agassiz on an expedition to study the Florida
reefs. On his return he became professor of natural science in Oglethorpe University
which was located in Midway, Georgia
at the time; and from December 1852 until 1856 professor of natural history and geology at Franklin College. From 1857 to 1869 he was a professor of chemistry and geology at South Carolina College, which is now the University of South Carolina
.
On January 14, 1846, he married Caroline Nisbet, a niece of Eugenius A. Nisbet. The Le Contes had four children grow to adulthood: Emma Florence Le Conte, Sarah Elizabeth Le Conte, Caroline Eaton Le Conte, and Joseph Nisbet Le Conte.
During the Civil War
Le Conte continued to teach in South Carolina. He also produced medicine and supervised the niter works (to manufacture explosives) for the Confederacy
. However, after the war he continued to teach, but he claimed to find Reconstruction politics intolerable, with moves of the Reconstruction-era Legislature to deeply cut funding to South Carolina College.
In September 1869, he moved to Berkeley, California
to join the faculty of the newly-established (1868) University of California
. His brother John
had come to California in April 1869 to also join the faculty of the new University as a professor of physics. Joseph was appointed the first professor of geology and natural history and botany at the University, a post which he held until his death.
He published a series of papers on monocular
and binocular vision
, and also on psychology
. His chief contributions, however, related to geology. He described the fissure-eruptions in western America, discoursed on earth-crust movements and their causes and on the great features of the Earth's surface. As separate works he published Elements of Geology (1878, 5th ed. 1889); Religion and Science (1874); and Evolution: its History, its Evidences, and its Relation to Religious Thought (1888). This last work anticipates in structure and argument Teilhard de Chardin's "Phenomenon of Man."(1955). In 1874, he was nominated to the National Academy of Sciences
. He was president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
in 1892, and of the Geological Society of America
in 1896.
Le Conte is also noted for his exploration and preservation of the Sierra Nevada of California
, USA. He first visited Yosemite Valley
in 1870, where he became friends with John Muir
and started exploring the Sierra. He became concerned that resource exploitation (such as sheepherding
) would ruin the Sierra, so he co-founded the Sierra Club
with Muir and others in 1892. He was a director of the Sierra Club from 1892 through 1898. His son, Joseph N. Le Conte, was also a noted professor and Sierra Club member.
He died of a heart attack in the Yosemite Valley
, California, on July 6, 1901, right before the Sierra Club's first High Trip
. The Sierra Club built the LeConte Memorial Lodge
in his honor in 1904. The LeConte Glacier
, Le Conte Canyon, Le Conte Divide, Le Conte Falls and Mount Le Conte
were named after him. Le Conte Middle School
in Hollywood, Le Conte Hall on the UC Berkeley campus, Le Conte Avenue in Berkeley, and Le Conte Avenue bordering the south of UCLA were also named after him. He is buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, California
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
geologist
Geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...
and professor at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
.
Biography
Of HuguenotHuguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
descent, he was born in Liberty County
Liberty County, Georgia
Liberty County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of 2000, the population was 61,610. The 2007 Census Estimate shows a population of 60,503...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
to Louis Le Conte, patriarch of the noted Le Conte family. He was educated at Franklin College in Athens, Georgia
Athens, Georgia
Athens-Clarke County is a consolidated city–county in U.S. state of Georgia, in the northeastern part of the state, comprising the former City of Athens proper and Clarke County. The University of Georgia is located in this college town and is responsible for the initial growth of the city...
(now the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
Franklin College of Arts and Sciences
The Franklin College of Arts and Sciences is the founding college of the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, United States. The college was named in honor of Benjamin Franklin.-History:...
at the University of Georgia
University of Georgia
The University of Georgia is a public research university located in Athens, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1785, it is the oldest and largest of the state's institutions of higher learning and is one of multiple schools to claim the title of the oldest public university in the United States...
) where he was a member of the Phi Kappa Literary Society
Phi Kappa Literary Society
The Phi Kappa Literary Society is a college literary society, located at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia.The Society was founded in 1820 by Joseph Henry Lumpkin, later to become the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia and eponym for the , and by William Crabbe, Edwin...
. After graduation in 1841, he studied medicine and received his degree at the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1845. After practising for three or four years at Macon, Georgia
Macon, Georgia
Macon is a city located in central Georgia, US. Founded at the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is part of the Macon metropolitan area, and the county seat of Bibb County. A small portion of the city extends into Jones County. Macon is the biggest city in central Georgia...
, he entered Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, and studied natural history under Louis Agassiz
Louis Agassiz
Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz was a Swiss paleontologist, glaciologist, geologist and a prominent innovator in the study of the Earth's natural history. He grew up in Switzerland and became a professor of natural history at University of Neuchâtel...
.
An excursion made with Professors J. Hall and Agassiz to the Helderberg
Helderberg Escarpment
The Helderberg Escarpment is an escarpment in eastern New York, roughly west of the city of Albany....
mountains of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
developed a keen interest in geology. After graduating at Harvard, Le Conte in 1851 accompanied Agassiz on an expedition to study the Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
reefs. On his return he became professor of natural science in Oglethorpe University
Oglethorpe University
Oglethorpe University is a private liberal arts college in Brookhaven, Georgia, an inner suburb of Atlanta. It was chartered in 1835 and named after James Edward Oglethorpe, the state's founder.-History:...
which was located in Midway, Georgia
Midway, Georgia
Midway is a city in Liberty County, Georgia, United States. It is a part of the Hinesville-Fort Stewart metropolitan statistical area. Midway is situated near Savannah, Brunswick, St. Simons Island, and Jekyll Island. The population was 1,100 as of the 2000 census.Midway has several museums...
at the time; and from December 1852 until 1856 professor of natural history and geology at Franklin College. From 1857 to 1869 he was a professor of chemistry and geology at South Carolina College, which is now the University of South Carolina
University of South Carolina
The University of South Carolina is a public, co-educational research university located in Columbia, South Carolina, United States, with 7 surrounding satellite campuses. Its historic campus covers over in downtown Columbia not far from the South Carolina State House...
.
On January 14, 1846, he married Caroline Nisbet, a niece of Eugenius A. Nisbet. The Le Contes had four children grow to adulthood: Emma Florence Le Conte, Sarah Elizabeth Le Conte, Caroline Eaton Le Conte, and Joseph Nisbet Le Conte.
During the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
Le Conte continued to teach in South Carolina. He also produced medicine and supervised the niter works (to manufacture explosives) for the Confederacy
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
. However, after the war he continued to teach, but he claimed to find Reconstruction politics intolerable, with moves of the Reconstruction-era Legislature to deeply cut funding to South Carolina College.
In September 1869, he moved to Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
to join the faculty of the newly-established (1868) University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
. His brother John
John Le Conte
John Le Conte was an American scientist and academic. He served as President of the University of California, Berkeley.-Biography:...
had come to California in April 1869 to also join the faculty of the new University as a professor of physics. Joseph was appointed the first professor of geology and natural history and botany at the University, a post which he held until his death.
He published a series of papers on monocular
Monocular
A monocular is a modified refracting telescope used to magnify the images of distant objects by passing light through a series of lenses and sometimes prisms; the use of prisms results in a lightweight telescope. Volume and weight are less than half those of binoculars of similar optical...
and binocular vision
Binocular vision
Binocular vision is vision in which both eyes are used together. The word binocular comes from two Latin roots, bini for double, and oculus for eye. Having two eyes confers at least four advantages over having one. First, it gives a creature a spare eye in case one is damaged. Second, it gives a...
, and also on psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
. His chief contributions, however, related to geology. He described the fissure-eruptions in western America, discoursed on earth-crust movements and their causes and on the great features of the Earth's surface. As separate works he published Elements of Geology (1878, 5th ed. 1889); Religion and Science (1874); and Evolution: its History, its Evidences, and its Relation to Religious Thought (1888). This last work anticipates in structure and argument Teilhard de Chardin's "Phenomenon of Man."(1955). In 1874, he was nominated to the National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
. He was president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science is an international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for the...
in 1892, and of the Geological Society of America
Geological Society of America
The Geological Society of America is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of the geosciences. The society was founded in New York in 1888 by Alexander Winchell, John J. Stevenson, Charles H. Hitchcock, John R. Proctor and Edward Orton and has been headquartered at 3300 Penrose...
in 1896.
Le Conte is also noted for his exploration and preservation of the Sierra Nevada of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, USA. He first visited Yosemite Valley
Yosemite Valley
Yosemite Valley is a glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in the western Sierra Nevada mountains of California, carved out by the Merced River. The valley is about long and up to a mile deep, surrounded by high granite summits such as Half Dome and El Capitan, and densely forested with pines...
in 1870, where he became friends with John Muir
John Muir
John Muir was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, have been read by millions...
and started exploring the Sierra. He became concerned that resource exploitation (such as sheepherding
Shepherd
A shepherd is a person who tends, feeds or guards flocks of sheep.- Origins :Shepherding is one of the oldest occupations, beginning some 6,000 years ago in Asia Minor. Sheep were kept for their milk, meat and especially their wool...
) would ruin the Sierra, so he co-founded the Sierra Club
Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is the oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. It was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by the conservationist and preservationist John Muir, who became its first president...
with Muir and others in 1892. He was a director of the Sierra Club from 1892 through 1898. His son, Joseph N. Le Conte, was also a noted professor and Sierra Club member.
He died of a heart attack in the Yosemite Valley
Yosemite Valley
Yosemite Valley is a glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in the western Sierra Nevada mountains of California, carved out by the Merced River. The valley is about long and up to a mile deep, surrounded by high granite summits such as Half Dome and El Capitan, and densely forested with pines...
, California, on July 6, 1901, right before the Sierra Club's first High Trip
High Trips
The High Trips were large wilderness excursions organized and led by the Sierra Club beginning in 1901. Club secretary William Colby initiated the High Trips, which usually traveled to the High Sierra, and led them from 1901 to 1929. Colby wrote, "It was from John Muir, President of the Club,...
. The Sierra Club built the LeConte Memorial Lodge
LeConte Memorial Lodge
The LeConte Memorial Lodge is a structure in Yosemite National Park in California, United States. LeConte is spelled variously as Le Conte or as Leconte. The lodge was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1987.-History:...
in his honor in 1904. The LeConte Glacier
LeConte Glacier
LeConte Glacier is a and glacier in the U.S. state of Alaska. It flows southwest to the head of LeConte Bay. It was named in 1887 by U.S. Navy Lieutenant-Commander Charles M. Thomas in honor of a California biologist Joseph LeConte...
, Le Conte Canyon, Le Conte Divide, Le Conte Falls and Mount Le Conte
Mount Le Conte (California)
Mount Le Conte is a mountain located in the Sierra Nevada of California. The boundary between Inyo and Tulare counties runs along the crest of the Sierra, across Mount Le Conte...
were named after him. Le Conte Middle School
Le Conte Middle School
Joseph Le Conte Middle School is located at 1316 North Bronson Avenue in Hollywood, in Los Angeles, California with a ZIP code of 90028 next to Tribune Studios. The middle school was named after the geologist, Joseph Le Conte....
in Hollywood, Le Conte Hall on the UC Berkeley campus, Le Conte Avenue in Berkeley, and Le Conte Avenue bordering the south of UCLA were also named after him. He is buried in Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, California
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
.
External links
- The Autobiography of Joseph LeConte. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1903.
- A Journal of Ramblings through the High Sierras of California, by Joseph LeConte
- "Reminiscences of Joseph LeConte" by John Muir (1901)
- The Joseph Le Conte Group of the Sierra Club, in Athens, Georgia
- Phillip C. Cato, "The Evolutionary Theology of Joseph LeConte." (Ph.D. dissertation, Emory University, 1977)
- U.S. National Academy of Sciences biography of Dr. Joseph LeConte
- LeConte Memorial Lodge in Yosemite Valley, a national historic landmark