Charles Henry Smyth, Jr.

Charles Henry Smyth Jr. (; March 31, 1866 – April 4, 1937) was an American geologist. Born to a prominent family in Upstate New York, he studied geology at Columbia University before becoming a professor of geology at Hamilton College and Princeton University. At Princeton he strengthened the Department of Geology's graduate program.

Smyth specialized in petrology, chemical geology, and economic geology. He showed the sedimentary origin of iron ore deposits near his native Clinton, New York, mapped the geology of the western Adirondack Mountains, and published a well known monograph on the origins of alkaline igneous rocks. He was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a member of the American Philosophical Society, and a fellow of the Geological Society of America.

Family

Smyth was born March 31, 1866, in Oswego, New York, the second son of Alice DeWolf Smyth and Charles Henry Smyth Sr. In 1873, he moved with his family to nearby Clinton, New York. His mother belonged to a well known Oswego banking and manufacturing family. His father was a prominent local businessman, holding executive positions at the Franklin Iron Works, Clinton Bank, and the company that managed the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge. He also served on the vestry of the local Episcopal church The family was considered among the local elite in Clinton. Katharine Blunt was a first cousin.

On July 30, 1891, the younger Charles Smyth married Ruth Anne Phelps, originally of Shreveport, Louisiana.

Education

Smyth studied at Clinton Grammar School in his youth. He became interested in geology at a young age: his native region of Upstate New York had many fossils, and his family's business involved extracting the local iron ore. In 1884, he entered Hamilton College in Clinton, where he studied science. After a year he transferred to the School of Mines at Columbia University. At Columbia he was president of the Glee Club. He graduated in 1888 as one of the top three students in his class. where Smyth taught 1905–34.

In 1891 Smyth returned to Hamilton College to become the Stone Professor of Natural History.

Smyth was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a member of the American Philosophical Society, and a fellow of the Geological Society of America.

In his dissertation he argued that the iron ore near Clinton was a primary sediment; at the time the deposits were believed to be secondary nodules formed by replacement of primary limestone. His Princeton graduate student Hayes proved a similar result about the iron ores of his native Wabana, Newfoundland and Labrador. In 1919, Smyth showed that a green mineral in the Clinton ores was chamosite and also a primary sediment. He contracted tonsillitis during his 1898 expedition to the Adirondacks and suffered heart and digestive troubles thereafter. He died April 4, 1937, at Princeton Hospital. The cause was pneumonia and complications from a recent hip fracture.