Quick BIO

Charles Doolittle Walcott was born on March 31, 1850 in New York Mills, NY. He attended the Utica Free Academy until age 18, but never graduated.

At age 20, Walcott began living with William Rust, a local farmer who was interested in fossils. Rust showed Walcott where and how to collect and prepare fossils. They sold two of their fossil collections, one in 1873, the other in 1879 for what would now be $70,000-$80,000 each.

In 1876, Walcott became the special assistant to James Hall, the state paleontologist of New York and the second most prolific paleontologist in the world.

In July of 1879, he was hired as one of the original members of the United States Geological Survey. Although Walcott made contributions to paleobiology, his main work for the USGS was in biostratigraphy, advising field geologists on the age of sedimentary rocks by studying fossils.

In 1894, Walcott became the third director of the U.S. Geological Survey and in 1907, he became the fourth secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

In 1909, Walcott discovered Burgess Shale, middle Cambrian-age fossils located in the Yoho National Park in the Rocky Mountains.

Walcott died in 1927. He has been called one of the most important and highly respected figures in the history of Geology.

-Profile by Jennifer L. Blanchard

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