Edmund Otis Hovey | |
---|---|
Born | September 15, 1862 New Haven, Connecticut |
Died | September 27, 1924 |
Institutions | American Museum of Natural History |
Alma mater | Yale University |
Doctoral advisor |
James Dwight Dana Samuel Lewis Penfield |
Edmund Otis Hovey (September 15, 1862 – September 27, 1924) was an American geologist specialising in volcanoes, earthquakes and meteorites. He made his greatest impact as curator of geology at the American Museum of Natural History.
Hovey was born in New Haven, Connecticut and he began studying geology through the amateur interests of his father - a priest. The family travelled throughout Hovey's teens exposing him to a range of landscapes across the United States. He first studied at Yale University before becoming a school teacher. For the next few years he managed both teaching and postgraduate study - gaining his doctorate under James Dwight Dana in 1889. He was appointed assistant curator at the American Museum of Natural History after organising a successful mineralogical exhibition at the Columbian Exposition. He began in 1894 eventually becoming curator in 1910.
Hovey travelled extensively to study geological phenomena and was often accompanied by his wife who would write up the more prosaic aspects of their travels. One of his most significant voyages was to study the aftermath of the Mount Pelee and La Soufriere eruptions in 1902.