Israel C. White

Israel Charles White (November 1, 1848 – November 24, 1927) was an eminent geologist and professor, internationally known, and the first state geologist of West Virginia.

Israel Charles White
I. C. White about 1898
Born(1848-11-01)November 1, 1848
Monongalia County West Virginia, U.S.
DiedNovember 24, 1927(1927-11-24) (aged 79)
Baltimore Maryland, U.S.
CitizenshipAmerican
Alma materWest Virginia University, Columbia School of Mines, University of Arkansas
Known forGeology of West Virginia
Scientific career
FieldsGeology

White was born on a farm in the Battelle district of Monongalia County, West Virginia, United States,[1] of western Monongalia County and grew up in Morgantown.[2] White graduated from West Virginia University in June 1872 with a bachelor's degree in Geology[2] and did postgraduate studies in Geology and Chemistry from Columbia School of Mines and received a doctoral degree from the University of Arkansas in 1880. He began his career in 1875 as an assistant geologist in Pennsylvania. In 1877 he assumed the chair of Geology at West Virginia University,[3] where he taught until 1892. From 1884 to 1888, he worked as an assistant geologist for the United States Geological Survey, focusing on coal in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. He worked as a geologist at the West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey from 1897 onwards, eventually becoming chief of staff.[4]

White field tested the "Anticlinal Theory" for oil and gas exploration in 1883. White then went on to discover the Pennsylvania and Washington gas and oil field, the Grapeville gas field, the Belle Vernon field, and then in 1889, the Mannington oil field. As White stated, "It taught the practical oil men once and for all that they could not afford to disregard geological truths in their search for oil deposits.[4][5][6]

In 1904 he was hired by the Brazilian government as head of the "Comissão de Estudos das Minas de Carvão de Pedra do Brasil" (Commission for Studies on Brazilian Coal Mines), whose aim was to identify the potential of Brazilian coal, and whose report, published in 1908, was a milestone for understanding the geology of the Paraná Basin in Southern Brazil. One of the main results of these studies, besides the reconnaissance for coal, was the discovery of Mesosaurus fossils within Permian black shales (Irati Formation), and the Glossopteris flora within the Permian coals. White was one of the first to propose the equivalence between the South American Permian strata and similar rocks of the Karoo Basin in South Africa.[7] This report had an important contribution to the development of Continental Drift Theory, published by Alfred Wegener in 1912.[8]

He was the Treasurer of the Geological Society of America in 1892–1907[9] and its president in 1920.[10][11] He died in Baltimore, Maryland, aged 79.

References
  1. Staff (25 November 1927) "Dr. I. C. White, State Geologist, Dies Suddenly: Passes Away After Slight Operation" Morgantown Post obituary, reprinted under title "Israel Charles White" by the West Virginia Division of Culture and History, last accessed 21 October 2010
  2. "About Geology and Geography at West Virginia University: History of the Department" Archived 2016-11-02 at the Wayback Machine West Virginia University
  3. "Morris, Sir Daniel". International Who's Who. 1912. p. 1089.
  4. Davenport, F. (1951). "Early American Geologists and the Oil Industry". Indiana Magazine of History. 47 (1): 30–32. JSTOR 27787918.
  5. White, I.C. (1892). "The Mannington oil Field and the History of Its Development". Bulletin of the Geological Society of America. 3 (1): 187–216. Bibcode:1892GSAB....3..187W. doi:10.1130/GSAB-3-187. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  6. Olien, Diana; Olien, Roger (2002). Oil in Texas, The Gusher Age, 1895-1945. Austin: University of Texas Press. p. 17. ISBN 0292760566.
  7. White, I.C. (1908) "Comissão de Estudos das Minas de Carvão de Pedra do Brasil – Relatório final": Commission for Studies on Brazilian Coal Mines - Final Report; (Bilingual report, Portuguese & English) DNPM, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Parte I, p. 1-300 ; Parte II, p. 301-617; (facsimile edition: 1988).
  8. Wegener, Alfred (July 1912). "Die Entstehung der Kontinente". International Journal of Earth Sciences (in German). 3 (4): 276–292. Bibcode:1912GeoRu...3..276W. doi:10.1007/BF02202896. S2CID 129316588.
  9. "White, Israel C." International Who's Who. 1912. p. 1089.
  10. Fairchild, Herman LeRoy, 1932, The Geological Society of America 1888-1930, a Chapter in Earth Science History: New York, The Geological Society of America, 232 p.
  11. Eckel, Edwin, 1982, GSA Memoir 155, The Geological Society of America — Life History of a Learned Society: Boulder, Colorado, Geological Society of America Memoir 155, 168 p., ISBN 0-8137-1155-X.

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