Cyrus Thomas

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Cyrus Thomas

Cyrus Thomas (July 27, 1825–1910) was a U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
ethnologist

Ethnology

Ethnology is the branch of anthropology that compares and analyzes the origins, distribution, technology, religion, language, and social structure of the ethnicity, Race , and/or national divisions of humanity....
and entomologist

Entomology

Entomology is the science study of insects. At some 1.3 million described species, insects account for more than two-thirds of all known organisms,date back some 400 million years, and have many kinds of interactions with humans and other forms of life on earth....
prominent in the late 19th century and noted for his studies of the natural history

Natural history

Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards the observational than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research that is published in magazines than in academic journals....
of the American West.

as was born in Kingsport, Tennessee

Kingsport, Tennessee

Kingsport is a city in Hawkins County, Tennessee and Sullivan County, Tennessee counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee. The majority of the city lies in Sullivan County....
. He studied law

LAW

LAW may refer to:* Anti-tank warfare, e.g. the US Army M72 LAW or the British Army LAW 80*Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights ...
and was a lawyer

Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an Attorney at law, counsel or solicitor; a person licensed to practice fraud." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain stability, and deliver justice....
early on in his career up until 1865, serving as county clerk of Jackson County, Illinois

Jackson County, Illinois

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Encyclopedia

Cyrus Thomas (July 27, 1825–1910) was a U.S.

United States

Ethnology

Entomology

Natural history

Biography

Thomas was born in Kingsport, Tennessee

Kingsport, Tennessee

Kingsport is a city in Hawkins County, Tennessee and Sullivan County, Tennessee counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee. The majority of the city lies in Sullivan County....
. He studied law

LAW

LAW may refer to:* Anti-tank warfare, e.g. the US Army M72 LAW or the British Army LAW 80*Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights ...
and was a lawyer

Lawyer

Jackson County, Illinois

Jackson County, incorporated January 10, 1816, is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. As of 2007, the population was 58,841. Its county seat is Murphysboro, Illinois; its most populous city is Carbondale, Illinois, home to the main campus of Southern Illinois University Carbondale....
in the early 1850s. In 1865 he entered the ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Four years later in 1869 he joined the expedition of Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden

Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden

Dr. Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden was an United States geologist noted for his pioneering surveying expeditions of the Rocky Mountains in the late 19th century....
, who had organized a scientific

Science

In its broadest sense, science refers to any systematic knowledge or practice. In its more usual restricted sense, science refers to a system of acquiring knowledge based on scientific method, as well as to the organized body of knowledge gained through such research....
corps for the exploration of the Rocky Mountains

Rocky Mountains

The Rocky Mountains, often called the Rockies, are a mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than 4,800 kilometre from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in Canada, to New Mexico, in the United States....
. He was the agricultural statistician and entomologist on the Hayden Geological Survey of 1871

Hayden Geological Survey of 1871

File:Hayden PackTrain 1871 jwh00114.jpgThe Hayden Geological Survey of 1871 explored the region of northwestern Wyoming that later became Yellowstone National Park in 1872....
that led to the creation of Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park, established by the U.S. Congress as a national park on March 1, 1872, is located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, though it also extends into Montana and Idaho....
in 1872. In 1873 he was appointed a professor of natural science

Natural science

In science, the term natural science refers to a methodological naturalism approach to the study of the universe, which is understood as obeying rules or law of nature origin....
at Southern Illinois University

Southern Illinois University

Southern Illinois University is a state university located in southern Illinois with two institutions and multiple campuses. Glenn Poshard is President of Southern Illinois University....
. In 1879 he was appointed state entomologist of Illinois

Illinois

The State of Illinois is a U.S. state of the United States, the 21st to be admitted to the United States. Illinois is the most populous and demographically diverse Midwestern United States state and the fifth most populous state in the nation....
.

Works

Thomas was a leading early student of archaeology

Archaeology

Archaeology, archeology, or arch?ology is the science that studies Homo cultures through the recovery, documentation, analysis, and interpretation of material remains and environmental data, including architecture, Artifact , features, Biofact s, and cultural landscape....
of Native Americans

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Americas, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those peoples....
. In the 1890s he played a crucial role in debunking the previously common theory that the Mound Builders were a separate lost race rather than ancestors of more recent American Indians. Though he debunked the theory of the "lost race", he also concluded that the mounds were built after Europeans made contact with the Native Americans, a view now long-since disproved following the advent of scientific dating techniques. He also made early studies of Maya hieroglyphics.

Thomas also wrote on climatology

Climatology

Climatology is the study of climate, scientifically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of time, and is a branch of the atmospheric sciences....
, a new field in the 19th century. He was a leading proponent of the now-debunked theory known as Rain follows the plow
Rain follows the plow

Rain follows the plow is the conventional name for a now-discredited theory of climatology that was popular throughout the American West and Australia during the late 19th century....
, which stated that increased population and cultivation of the Great Plains

Great Plains

The Great Plains are the broad expanse of prairie and steppe which lie west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada....
would render the land lush and fertile.

Cyrus Thomas

Biography

Works

External links