Israel Charles White | |
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 I. C. White about 1898 | |
| Born | (1848-11-01)November 1, 1848 Monongalia County Virginia, U.S. |
| Died | November 24, 1927(1927-11-24) (aged 79) Baltimore Maryland, U.S. |
| Alma mater | West Virginia University,Columbia School of Mines,University of Arkansas |
| Known for | Geology of West Virginia |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Geology |
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Israel Charles White (November 1, 1848 – November 24, 1927) was an internationally renownedgeologist andprofessor. He was the first state geologist ofWest Virginia and made significant contributions to the field of geology.
White was born on a farm in the Battelle district ofMonongalia County,Virginia, United States,[1] of western Monongalia County and grew up inMorgantown.[2] White graduated fromWest Virginia University in June 1872 with abachelor's degree ingeology[2] and did postgraduate studies in Geology andChemistry fromColumbia School of Mines and received a doctoral degree from theUniversity of Arkansas in 1880. He began his career in 1875 as an assistant geologist inPennsylvania. In 1877 he assumed the chair of Geology at West Virginia University,[3] where he taught until 1892.
In 1878, he was elected as a member of theAmerican Philosophical Society.[4]
From 1884 to 1888, he worked as an assistant geologist for theUnited States Geological Survey, focusing oncoal 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.[5]
White field tested the "Anticlinal Theory" foroil 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, theManningtonoil 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.[5][6][7]
In 1904 he was hired by theBrazilian 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 theParaná Basin inSouthern Brazil. One of the main results of these studies, besides the reconnaissance for coal, was the discovery ofMesosaurusfossils withinPermian blackshales (Irati Formation), and theGlossopterisflora within the Permian coals. White was one of the first to propose the equivalence between theSouth American Permian strata and similar rocks of theKaroo Basin inSouth Africa.[8] This report had an important contribution to the development ofContinental Drift Theory, published byAlfred Wegener in 1912.[9]
He was the treasurer of theGeological Society of America in 1892–1907[10] and its president in 1920.[11][12] He died inBaltimore, Maryland, aged 79.
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