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Scientists & Academics

Agnes W. Spring

Added by yongli on 07/06/2020 - 16:07, last changed on 11/02/2022 - 02:50
Agnes Wright Spring (1894­–1988) was the first Wyoming state historian (1918–19) and the first female Colorado state historian (1950­–51 and 1954–63), making her the only person to serve as state historian of more than one state. She contributed to Wyoming and Colorado history through research,...

Arthur Lakes

Added by yongli on 05/03/2017 - 14:22, last changed on 12/29/2017 - 07:50

Arthur Lakes

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Arthur Lakes (1844–1917) was an English naturalist who discovered dinosaur bones near Morrison in 1877, setting off the “dinosaur bone rush” in Colorado and the American West. Additionally, his research on mineral deposits and extraction methods proved essential to the region’s mining industry. An...

Beatrice Willard

Added by yongli on 02/03/2017 - 13:27, last changed on 08/25/2022 - 07:24
Dr. Beatrice Willard (1925–2003) was an internationally recognized tundra ecologist who made significant contributions to environmental policy in Colorado and the nation. Her research in the Colorado mountains established her as a well-known ecologist, educator, and negotiator. Early Life Beatrice...

Dr. Florence Rena Sabin

Added by yongli on 08/11/2016 - 15:42, last changed on 10/26/2022 - 04:41
One of the preeminent medical and scientific minds of the early twentieth century, Dr. Florence Rena Sabin (1871–1953) was a public servant devoted to improving public health. As the first woman to receive a full professorship at Johns Hopkins University, Sabin was also a successful woman in the...

Edwin Carter

Added by yongli on 01/08/2019 - 11:49, last changed on 11/27/2022 - 09:00
Edwin Carter (1830–1900) was a prospector turned naturalist whose Colorado wildlife collection became the founding exhibit of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science (DMNS). Originally from New York, Carter prospected in the Rocky Mountains during the 1860s, but he quickly gave up mining to collect...

Ellison Onizuka

Added by yongli on 01/31/2017 - 10:17, last changed on 08/16/2022 - 16:19
Ellison Onizuka (1946–86) was an astronaut for the US Space Shuttle program who earned degrees at the University of Colorado in Boulder before perishing in the 1986 Challenger shuttle disaster. Onizuka was Colorado’s highest-profile astronaut and is remembered today as an advocate for science...

Enos Mills

Added by yongli on 10/06/2016 - 16:21, last changed on 08/15/2022 - 16:59
As a boy and as a man, Enos Mills (1870–1922) lived a remarkable life. His bond with nature and wildlife inspired him to overcome personal hardship and become a successful speaker, author, naturalist, businessman, and driving force behind the creation of Rocky Mountain Natio n al Park . Today,...

Estella Bergere Leopold

Added by yongli on 09/16/2015 - 14:59, last changed on 10/31/2019 - 11:41
Dr. Estella Leopold is a world-renowned paleobotanist who helped spearhead the 1969 fight to save Florissant Fossil Beds in Florissant, Colorado. She was the recipient of several awards during her career, including Conservationist of the Year (1969) from the Colorado Wildlife Federation, the Keep...

Gustaf Nordenskiöld and the Mesa Verde Region

Added by yongli on 08/20/2015 - 09:34, last changed on 04/03/2021 - 08:31
In 1891 the young Swedish scientist Gustaf Nordenskiöld (1868–95) arrived in Colorado, seeking both a cure for his tuberculosis and a look at the wonders of the West. His experiences over the next two years set in motion a series of events that would ultimately lead to the passage of the first...

Hannah Marie Wormington

Added by yongli on 11/19/2015 - 16:19, last changed on 11/20/2022 - 22:12
As a pioneering woman in a field dominated by men, Hannah Marie Wormington (1914–94) carved a scholarly niche for herself on the frontiers of American archaeology. She was a larger-than-life figure whose impact went far beyond the dozens of publications she produced to include mentorship for many...

Harry Buckwalter

Added by yongli on 05/06/2016 - 14:14, last changed on 12/28/2017 - 13:41
Photojournalist, radio reporter, and film producer Harry Buckwalter (1867–1930) is considered Colorado’s first photojournalist. He was also one of the great technological innovators of the nineteenth- and early twentieth-century American West, known for his advances in X-ray photography, early...

Helen Hunt Jackson

Added by yongli on 01/07/2019 - 15:41, last changed on 08/28/2020 - 01:07
Helen Hunt Jackson (1830–85) was an accomplished poet, author, and activist in the nineteenth century. Many of Jackson’s written works, notably A Century of Dishonor (1881) and Ramona (1884) , spurred progress toward recompense for the mistreatment of the Native American peoples by the US...

J. Quigg Newton

Added by yongli on 01/30/2017 - 16:28, last changed on 11/02/2022 - 02:50
James Quigg Newton, Jr. (1911–2003) was a distinguished lawyer, politician, and philanthropist who served as mayor of Denver (1947–55), president of the University of Colorado (CU; 1956–63), and the head of several national charitable foundations. As mayor, Newton modernized Denver’s city...

Jesse Nusbaum

Added by yongli on 04/27/2017 - 12:35, last changed on 12/19/2019 - 01:07
Jesse Nusbaum (1887–1975) was an early National Park Service (NPS) employee, historian, archaeologist, restoration specialist, and author active in Colorado and New Mexico in the early 1900s. As superintendent of Mesa Verde National Park , he imbued the fledgling National Park Service with a new...

John W. Gunnison

Added by yongli on 08/02/2016 - 16:26, last changed on 11/02/2022 - 05:48
John Williams Gunnison (1812–53) was a nineteenth-century US Army officer and explorer. In 1853 he was charged with finding a railroad route across the Rocky Mountains , and while carrying out his mission he explored the Western Slope of Colorado. His expedition moved on to Utah, where members of...

Radiocarbon Dating

Added by yongli on 05/02/2016 - 16:39, last changed on 10/26/2022 - 17:45
Radiocarbon dating is the most common technique used in ascertaining the age of archaeological and paleontological sites during the last 45,000 years. Developed by a chemist born in Colorado, there are now commercial and academic laboratories across the globe that conduct radiocarbon dating...

Ruth Underhill

Added by yongli on 05/16/2016 - 15:40, last changed on 09/30/2022 - 11:44
Ruth Underhill (1883–1984) was a prominent anthropologist in the mid- to-late twentieth century, and one of the first female anthropologists to reach the stature regularly enjoyed by male colleagues. As a professor at the University of Denver later in life, Underhill published dozens of works on...

Temple Grandin

Added by yongli on 05/17/2022 - 16:32, last changed on 12/28/2022 - 13:40
Temple Grandin (1947–) is a renowned advocate and expert in two very different fields: animal welfare and autism. A prolific author on both subjects, Grandin has taught at Colorado State University (CSU) since 1990. Her focus on animal welfare, particularly cattle, changed the way animals are...

Willard Frank Libby

Added by yongli on 12/28/2015 - 12:30, last changed on 11/11/2020 - 01:07
Willard Frank “Bill” Libby (1908–80) was a native Coloradan who won the Nobel Prize for inventing the radiocarbon dating method. Radiocarbon dating is one of the most commonly used dating techniques by archaeologists and other scientists across the world. Willard Libby was born in Grand...
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