S25-25 Minerals at the Peabody Museum and the Founding of Mineral Science
Class | Registration opens 3/3/2025 9:00 AM
The mineral exhibits at Yale’s Peabody Museum are among the finest in the United States. The origins of the collection date back 200 years and pre-date the founding of the museum itself. In addition, the Yale faculty who helped build the collection in the 19th Century – especially Benjamin Silliman, his son-in-law James Dana, and Silliman's grandson Edward Edward Dana – effectively founded the science of mineralogy. A version of James Dana’s 1848 textbook is now in its 23rd edition and there is not a geologist, mineralogist, or crystallographer working today who does not use this foundational work. This two-session course will examine the nature and utility of minerals, the origins of mineral science at Yale, and highlights of current Peabody exhibits. The first session will be a weekday lecture. The second will be a Sunday afternoon tour of the mineral galleries at the Peabody.
Daniel May
Dan May is an emeritus professor of geology at the University of New Haven. He is an alum of Stanford and UC Santa Barbara; served on the faculty at Victoria University in New Zealand; in Ohio at Bowling Green State University and the University of Findlay; and since 2013 at New Haven. His geological roles focused on regional mapping, mineral resource exploration, natural hazard assessments, and ultimately environmental remediation and risk management. He enjoyed conducting or directing field projects in more than a dozen states as well as New Zealand and other South Pacific islands. Dan was a senior university administrator in the latter half of his career and served as the chief academic officer for both Findlay and New Haven.