Frank W. Clarke

Frank Wigglesworth Clarke (March 19, 1847 – May 23, 1931) of Boston, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C. was an American scientist and chemist. Sometimes known as the "Father of Geochemistry," Clarke is credited with determining the composition of the Earth's crust. He was a founder of The American Chemical Society and served as its President, in 1901.

Expertise Clarke was the first theorist to advance a hypothesis regarding the evolution of elements. This concept emerged early in his intellectual career. His "Evolution and the Spectroscope" (1873) appeared in Popular Science Monthly. It noted a parallel evolution of minerals, accompanying that of plant life. His study "Constants of Nature" (Smithsonian Institution 1876) was one of the first collections of both physical and chemical constants. The USGS's Atomic Weights series became standard references for the chemistry and geochemistry professions and academic fields. Clarke was also an academic collaborator. His Data on Geochemistry became a means of collecting peer professional efforts for common use across five successive editions. relative to the teaching of chemistry and physics in the United States. The report was exhaustive, spanning secondary institutions, normal schools, and more than 350 colleges and universities.

In 1908 the first edition of Clarke's work, The Data of Geochemistry (Survey Bulletin no. 330), was published while he was the Chief Chemist at the U.S. Geological Survey. Clarke's fifth edition of this bulletin was released in 1924; the year he retired. Clarke was also an early pioneer (1891) of work efficiency studies, using the theory of probability and least squares as the basis for work review.

Early life and education Clarke's parents, Henry W. Clarke and Abby (Fisher) Clarke, were residents of Boston, Massachusetts. Henry W. Clarke was a hardware merchant and dealer in iron-working machinery. While at Cincinnati, he made extensive forays into Appalachia to study its geology and form. Clarke's first academic work was entitled On a new process in mineral analysis (March 1868). It was published at age 20 and during the year he went on to serve as an instructor in Chemistry at the new Cornell University.

Sample Publications

Scientific

USGS Water Supply Paper No.364 Water analyses from the laboratory of the United States Geological Survey , 1914; Analysis of rocks and minerals from the laboratory of the United States Geological Survey, 1880 to 1908, USGS Bulletin No. 419 (1910); Contributions to mineralogy from the United States Geological Survey, USGS Bulletin No. 262 (1905); Report of work done in the division of chemistry and physics mainly during the fiscal year 1884-85, USGS Bulletin No. 27 (1886); "Evolution and the Spectroscope," Popular Science Monthly (1873); "On a new process in mineral analysis; Contributions to Chemistry from the Laboratory of the Lawrence Scientific School," 45 Am. Jour. Sci. 173-80 (1868).

General "The Obituary of an Undertaker," Life Magazine; "The Mormon Widow's Lament, The Galaxy; "American colleges versus American science," 9 Pop. Sci. Monthly 467 (Aug. 1876); "The higher education," 7 Pop. Sci. Monthly 402 (Aug. 1875); "How to Play Solitaire, Riverside Magazine (Feb. 1870); Views around Ithaca, New York; Being a description of the waterfalls and ravines of this remarkable locality (1869). "Weights, measures, and money, of all nations", (1875) Online version

Member The American Association for the Advancement of Science (Section Q); American Chemical Society; Young Men's Christian Union; The Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C.; the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity at Cornell and the Irving Literary Society. In 1896, he served as president of the Philosophical Society of Washington. In 1904, he was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society.