The New International Encyclopædia/Becker, George Ferdinand

BECKER, George Ferdinand (1847—). An American geologist; born in New York City. He graduated at Harvard in 1868, and subsequently pursued his scientific studies at Heidelberg and at Berlin. He was instructor in mining and metallurgy at the University of California from 1875 to 1879, and was associated with the United States Geological Survey from 1879 to 1892, and from 1894 to 1897. From 1879 to 1883 he was special agent of the Tenth Census, and in 1896 made an examination of the gold and silver mines of South Africa. In 1898 he accompanied the United States Army to the Philippine Islands as geologist, and upon his return was appointed director of the Division of Chemical and Physical Research. The following is a partial list of his principal works: Atomic Weight Determinations: A Digest of the Investigations Published Since 1814 (1880); Geology of the Comstock Lode and the Washoe District (1882); Statistics and Technology of the Precious Metals (with S. F. Emmons, 1885); Geology of the Quicksilver Deposits of the Pacific Slope (1886); Gold-Fields of the Southern Appalachians (1895); Reports on the gold-fields of South Africa and Alaska, and on the geology of the Philippine Islands. Becker's most important work has been in connection with the origin and mode of occurrence of ore deposits, especially those of the Western States, to the knowledge of which he has made extensive contributions.