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==Early life and education== |
==Early life and education== |
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He was born in [[Ephrata, Pennsylvania]], on October 10, 1840. He was the youngest of nine children. His father died when Rock was only five years old and he was raised by a [[Mennonites|Mennonite]] farmer. At age 14, he moved to [[Lancaster, Pennsylvania|Lancaster]] and worked in a book store.<ref name=WAOS>{{cite book |title=Proceedings of the Washington Academy of Sciences Vol. V |date=1903 |publisher=The New Era Printing Company |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=411-412 |url= |access-date=25 November 2024}}</ref> He attended the local public schools and Lancaster High School.<ref name=”obit”/> He attended [[Franklin & Marshall College]] but left early to serve in the [[American Civil War]]. He served in the [[1st Pennsylvania Reserve Regiment]] as secretary to the commanding officer and in the [[U.S. Signal Corps]].<ref name=”donation”/> After the war, he enrolled in the first class of the newly founded [[Lehigh University]], and graduated in 1869 |
He was born in [[Ephrata, Pennsylvania]], on October 10, 1840. He was the youngest of nine children. His father died when Rock was only five years old and he was raised by a [[Mennonites|Mennonite]] farmer. At age 14, he moved to [[Lancaster, Pennsylvania|Lancaster]] and worked in a book store.<ref name=WAOS>{{cite book |title=Proceedings of the Washington Academy of Sciences Vol. V |date=1903 |publisher=The New Era Printing Company |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=411-412 |url= |access-date=25 November 2024}}</ref> He attended the local public schools and Lancaster High School.<ref name=”obit”/> He attended [[Franklin & Marshall College]] but left early to serve in the [[American Civil War]]. He served in the [[1st Pennsylvania Reserve Regiment]] as secretary to the commanding officer and in the [[U.S. Signal Corps]].<ref name=”donation”/> After the war, he enrolled in the first class of the newly founded [[Lehigh University]], and graduated in 1869.<ref name=”obit”>{{cite journal|title=The Late Miles Rock|journal=Science|date=June 21, 1901|volume=13|issue=338|pages=978–980|url= |access-date=5 November 2024 |last1=Eimbeck |first1=William |doi=10.1126/science.13.338.978 |pmid=17729923 |bibcode=1901Sci….13..978E }}</ref> While at Lehigh, he often walked over the hill to the Friedensville Zinc Mine in [[Center Valley, Pennsylvania]], with his friend [[Henry Sturgis Drinker]]. He was paid to survey the mines and its tunnels.<ref name=”donation”/> |
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==Career== |
==Career== |
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Latest revision as of 13:33, 25 November 2024
American geologist (1840–1901)
Miles Rock (October 10, 1840 – January 29, 1901) was an American civil engineer, geologist and astronomer. He was part of the first graduating class of Lehigh University in 1869. He assisted Benjamin Apthorp Gould in the creation of the Observatorio Astronómico de Córdoba in Argentina between 1870 and 1873. He worked on the Wheeler Survey and as Chief of the Guatemala Boundary Commission from 1883 to 1898 to define the disputed Guatemala-Mexico border.
Early life and education
[edit]
He was born in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, on October 10, 1840. He was the youngest of nine children. His father died when Rock was only five years old and he was raised by a Mennonite farmer. At age 14, he moved to Lancaster and worked in a book store.[1] He attended the local public schools and Lancaster High School.[2] He attended Franklin & Marshall College but left early to serve in the American Civil War. He served in the 1st Pennsylvania Reserve Regiment as secretary to the commanding officer and in the U.S. Signal Corps.[3] After the war, he enrolled in the first class of the newly founded Lehigh University, and graduated in 1869.[2] He worked as an instructor at Lehigh for one year after graduation and taught math and mineralogy.[1] While at Lehigh, he often walked over the hill to the Friedensville Zinc Mine in Center Valley, Pennsylvania, with his friend Henry Sturgis Drinker. He was paid to survey the mines and its tunnels.[3]
Rock and three others, including John M. Thome and William Morris Davis, assisted Benjamin Apthorp Gould as he created the Observatorio Astronómico de Córdoba in Argentina between 1870 and 1873.[4] While there, Gould, Rock and others created the Uranometria Argentina, formalizing the southern astronomical constellations.[2]
Trained as a civil engineer, he held multiple roles that leveraged his skills in different ways. From 1874 to 1877, he worked with the US Navy’s Hydrographic office, mapping the West Indies and Central America. He was part of the Wheeler Survey between 1878 and 1879 mapping western states and territories.[2] He later worked at the United States Naval Observatory.[3]
From 1883 to 1898, he was chief of the Guatemala Boundary Commission, whose goal was to clearly define and map the contentious boundary between Guatemala and Mexico.[2][5]
In 1870, he married Susan Clarkson and together they had a son, Alfred Rock, and a daughter, Amy Cordoba Rock.[3]
Rock died on January 29, 1901, on his coffee farm in Guatemala due to severe food poisoning. He was interred in the Guatemala City General Cemetery in Guatemala City with public honors under the supervision of President Manuel Estrada Cabrera in recognition of his service to Guatemala.[2] His son retrieved his belongings which were passed down through his descendants until they were donated to Lehigh University in 2021.[3]