Miles Rock (October 10, 1840 – January 29, 1901) was an American civil engineer, geologist and astronomer.[1] He was part of the first graduating class of Lehigh University in 1869. He is primarily known for his role as chief of the Guatemala Boundary Commission which helped settle the border between Guatemala and Mexico.
Miles Rock | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 10, 1840 |
| Died | January 29, 1901 (aged 60) |
| Alma mater | Lehigh University Franklin & Marshall College |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Geology |
Biography
editHe was born in Ephrata, Pennsylvania on October 10, 1840, and attended Franklin & Marshall College before the Civil War broke out. He served as part of the 1st Pennsylvania Reserve Regiment and the U.S. Signal Corps.[2] After the war, he enrolled in the first class of the newly founded Lehigh University, graduating in 1869 before joining the faculty.[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.[2]
Benjamin Apthorp Gould asked Rock and three others to be his assistants as he created the Observatorio Astronómico de Córdoba in Argentina between 1870 and 1873. While there, Gould, Rock and others created the Uranometria Argentina, formalizing the southern astronomical constellations.[1]
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.[1] He later worked at the United States Naval Observatory.[2]
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.[1][3]
Personal life
editHe married Susan Clarkson of Lancaster after graduating from Lehigh. He had a son, Alfred Rock, and a daughter, Amy Cordoba Rock.[2]
Rock died in 1901 on his coffee farm in Guatemala. His son retrieved his belongings which were passed down through his descendants until being donated to Lehigh University in 2021.[2]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e Eimbeck, William (June 21, 1901). "The Late Miles Rock". Science. 13 (338): 978–980. Bibcode:1901Sci....13..978E. doi:10.1126/science.13.338.978. JSTOR 1628639. PMID 17729923. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
- ^ a b c d e "Rediscovering Miles Rock". Lehigh University. 8 November 2022. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
- ^ "Miles Rock Papers". University of Alabama. Retrieved 5 November 2024.