The life of Grove Karl Gilbert, first chief geologist of the U.S. Geological Survey, spanned the heroic age of American geology during the time that this young earth science was being intellectually and institutionally defined. By the time of Gilbert’s death in 1918 at age seventy-five, geology ranked as one of the outstanding traditions in American science, with a magnificent history of exploration. As Stephen Pyne reveals in his biography, few other scientists can match Gilbert’s range of talents. A premier explorer of the American West who made major contributions to the cascade of new discoveries about the earth, Gilbert described two novel forms of mountain building, invented the concept of the graded stream, inaugurated modern theories of lunar origin, helped found the science of geomorphology, and added to the canon of conservation literature. Gilbert knew most of geology’s grand figures - including John Wesley Powell, Clarence Dutton, and Clarence King - and Pyne’s chronicle of the imperturbable, quietly unconventional Gilbert is counterpointed with sketches of these prominent scientists. The man who wrote that
happiness is sitting under a tent with walls uplifted, just after a brief shower,
created answers to the larger questions of the earth in ways that have become classics of his science. Stephen Pyne’s clear explication of these scientific complexities and attention to the idiosyncratic details that make up a life form a compelling biography of America’s greatest geologist.