21 Facts About Adolph Knopf

Adolph Knopf was primarily a petrologist and mineralogist, though later in his career contributed to geochronology.

Adolph Knopf performed much of his field work in the western United States, investigating mineral deposits in Alaska, the Boulder Batholith in Montana, and the Gold Country of California.

Adolph Knopf served as president of the Geological Society of America in 1944 and received its Penrose Medal in 1959.

Adolph Knopf's second wife, Eleanora Knopf, was a notable geologist and frequent collaborator.

Adolph Knopf was born December 2,1882, in San Francisco, California, to German American immigrants.

Adolph Knopf grew up with his family on a ranch near Woodside, California.

Adolph Knopf entered the University of California, Berkeley, where he became a student of petrology under Andrew Lawson.

Adolph Knopf earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mining geology in 1904 and a Master of Science degree in 1905.

The Alaskan Division, of which Adolph Knopf was one of about a dozen members, was considered the best geologic group in the USGS at that time.

In 1911 Adolph Knopf was promoted from assistant geologist to geologist.

Adolph Knopf encouraged students to work with the USGS as he had done; this helped mitigate the agency's brain drain following the departures.

Adolph Knopf began at Yale as an associate professor but was promoted to full professor in 1923.

Adolph Knopf was named the Silliman Professor of Geology in 1937 and a Sterling Professor in 1938.

Adolph Knopf was director of graduate studies from 1933 until his retirement from Yale in 1951.

Adolph Knopf continued his work in the Boulder Batholith and investigated intrusive igneous rock bodies in the Spanish Peaks in Colorado.

Adolph Knopf contributed to the emerging field of geochronology, putting lower bounds of 2 billion years and later 4.5 billion years on the age of the Earth.

Adolph Knopf was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1931.

Adolph Knopf was a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the Geological Society of America.

Adolph Knopf was president of the Geological Society of America in 1944, and he received the Penrose Medal in 1959.

In June 1920, Adolph Knopf married fellow USGS geologist Eleanora Frances Bliss, who as Eleanora Adolph Knopf became a frequent collaborator and travel companion.

Adolph and Eleanora Knopf endowed a graduate fellowship in petrology at Stanford.