Charles Palache

Charles Palache was an American mineralogist and crystallographer.
He was born in San Francisco, California on July 18, 1869
and died in Charlottesville, Virginia on December 5, 1954.

    Palache attended Berkeley High School where he became interested in natural history. In 1887 he began studies in mining at the University of California, Berkeley. He received his B.S. in 1891 and a doctorate in Mining in 1894 after studying under Andrew C. Lawson. In 1894 he went to study in Germany under a number of famous mineralogists and crystallographers. In autumn 1895, Palache returned to California, and in 1896 he became assistant to John E. Wolff at Harvard University. He became an instructor in mineralogy, promoted to assistant professor in 1902 and professor in 1910. When Wolff retired in 1922, Palache took over the Harvard Mineralogical Laboratory, and Harvard Mineralogical Museum. In 1919 Palache helped to organize the Mineralogical Society of America. He became its president two years later and received its Roebling Medal in 1936, when he was elected to the presidency of the Geological Society of America. Palache retired in 1941.

Charles Palache's Writings

The Minerals of Franklin and Sterling Hill Sussex County, New Jersey - Geological Survey Professional Paper 180  

    Palache’s 1935 paper was a study of the minerals of the Franklin area spanning more than a century, and was the most comprehensive review up to that time. In his paper, data scattered through a score of journals was compiled and combined to prepare a consistent and detailed description of the many minerals found at Franklin and Sterling Hill. The author provided extensive references to the literature.