Richard Owen (geologist)

(1810-1890)

1st Purdue University President, American military officer, and geologist

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Richard Dale Owen (January 6, 1810 – March 25, 1890) was a Scottish-born geologist, natural scientist, educator, and American military officer who arrived in the United States in 1828 and settled at New Harmony, Indiana. Owen, who was trained as a natural scientist and physician, served as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army during the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War. After the Civil War, Owen taught at Indiana University for fifteen years (1864–79) and chaired its natural science department. While retaining his faculty position at IU, Owen also served as Purdue University's first president (1872–74). During the interwar years, Owen taught natural science at the Western Military Institute in Kentucky and after its merger with the University of Nashville in Tennessee. In addition, Owen assisted his brother, David Dale Owen, with early geological studies of the Northwest Territory. In 1860 Richard Owen succeeded his brother to become Indiana's second state geologist. His research interests included geology, meteorology, terrestrial magnetism, and seismology. Owen authored scientific works that included geological surveys of several U.S. states.