Charles Kenneth Leith

Charles Kenneth Leith was an American geologist born January 20, 1875, in the village of Trempealeau, Wisconsin, who died September 13, 1956, at his home in Madison, Wisconsin, and who led the University of Wisconsin geology department for three decades and conducted research on ore deposits in the Lake Superior region, particularly the Mesabi Range; his major works include Rock Cleavage in 1905, Structural Geology in 1913, Metamorphic Geology in 1915, and World Minerals and World Peace in 1943. He headed the University of Wisconsin geology department from 1903 until his retirement in 1945, lectured on structural and metamorphic geology at the University of Chicago beginning in 1905, consulted for mining companies on ore deposit location and valuation, and served as mineral adviser to the United States Shipping Board and the War Industries Board during World War I. He won the Penrose Gold Medal of the Society of Economic Geologists in 1935, was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1916, the National Academy of Sciences in 1920 and the American Philosophical Society in 1926, served as president of the Geological Society of America in 1933, and received the Penrose Medal, described as the highest award given in the geosciences, in 1942.