Erasmus Haworth

Who was Erasmus Haworth?

Erasmus Haworth was an American geologist.

Born on a farm near Indianola, Iowa, he graduated from the University of Kansas with a bachelor of science degree in 1883 and received a master's degree there the following year. He received his doctoral degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1888. He taught at various colleges, and was appointed professor of geology and mineralogy at the University of Kansas in 1892, where he remained until 1920. Today, Haworth Hall, a building named after Haworth, houses the Division of Biological Sciences at the University of Kansas.

He organized the Kansas Geological Survey in 1894, and wrote several volumes of the survey from 1896 to 1904. He was state geologist from 1894 to 1915. In this position, he was instrumental in finding an ample water supply for Wichita and Newton. In 1903, he collected and analyzed a sample of gas later discovered by his colleagues to contain helium, in the abundant, economically feasible source of natural gas.

In the late 1890s and early 1900s, Haworth repeatedly used his position as state geologist to warn against investing in phony zinc and gold deposits in Trego and Ellis counties, Kansas. The politically influential promoters threatened to have Haworth fired from the University for his interference, but it eventually became clear that the deposits were an illusion and a swindle, and Haworth was vindicated.