James Dwight Dana, an outstanding naturalist, influenced many generations of geologists through his incomparable textbooks and publications on geology, mineralogy, and volcanism.​

Upon graduating from Yale, he served as shipboard mathematics instructor for the U.S. Navy in the Mediterranean. While there, he studied volcanic phenomena and his observations were published in the American Journal of Science in 1935. From 1838 to 1842, he served with the U.S. Exploring Expedition to the Pacific, where he was responsible for the geology, mineralogy, and marine zoology.​

Dana published numerous articles on a variety of geological and zoological topics. Most important among these were those supporting the subsidence theory of the growth of coral reefs, and those on volcanism as one phase of much broader igneous activity associated with widespread but slow movements that influence the grand features of the Earth’s crust. He also expanded and named the geosynclincal concept originated by James Hall in 1859, which served as one of the main explanations of mountain-building for 100 years.​

Dana’s System of Mineralogy (1837) and Manual of Mineralogy (1848) were the main texts for many generations of geology students. His Manual of Geology (1862), served for 40 years as the most influential textbook for students of that science. Dana received many honors and was elected First Vice-President of the American Geological Society (1889) and President of the Geological Society of America in 1890.​

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