Irving, Roland Duer 1847 - 1888 | Wisconsin Historical Society

Historical Essay

Irving, Roland Duer 1847 - 1888

Irving, Roland Duer 1847 - 1888 | Wisconsin Historical Society
professor of geology, b. New York City. He graduated from Columbia Univ. School of Mines (M.E., 1869), and in 1870 came to the Univ. of Wisconsin as professor of geology and mineralogy, serving in this capacity until his death. In 1873 he was one of 3 assistant geologists appointed to the newly created geological survey of Wisconsin. He served in this capacity from 1873 to 1879, and many of his findings were incorporated in Geology of Wisconsin, Survey of 1873-1879 (4 vols., 1882-1883). From 1882 until his death, he was a geologist for the U.S. Geological Survey, and in this position did important work on the structural geology and genetic petrography of central Wisconsin, and on the copper and iron ore regions of Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Canada. He was the author of several books and reports on geological subjects, among the most important of which was his monograph, Copper-bearing Rocks of Lake Superior (1883). Dict. Amer. Biog.; M. Curti and V. Carstensen, Univ. of Wis. (2 vols., Madison, 1949); Amer. Geologist, 3 (1889); Madison Democrat, May 31, 1888.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]