# Gerard Troost > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Gerard_Troost > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Gerard_Troost.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerard_Troost > Source revision: 1354937513 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|American mineralogist (1776–1850)}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Gerardus Troost | image = Gerard Troost.jpg | image_size = 220px | birth_date = {{Birth date|1776|3|5}} | death_date = {{Death date and age|1850|8|14|1776|3|5}} | birth_place = ['s-Hertogenbosch](/source/'s-Hertogenbosch), [Netherlands](/source/Netherlands) | death_place = [Nashville, Tennessee](/source/Nashville%2C_Tennessee), US | field = Mineralogy, biology }} '''Gerardus Troost''' (March 5, 1776 – August 14, 1850) was a [Dutch](/source/Netherlands)-[American](/source/United_States) medical doctor, [naturalist](/source/natural_history), [mineralogist](/source/mineralogy), and founding member and first president of the [Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences](/source/Philadelphia_Academy_of_Natural_Sciences).{{cite journal |author=Bonnier Corporation |date=June 1894 |title=Popular Science |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0iQDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA258 |journal=The Popular Science Monthly |publisher=Bonnier Corporation |pages=258– |issn=0161-7370 |access-date=28 March 2012}}; archive.org copies [https://archive.org/stream/pioneersscience03youmgoog/pioneersscience03youmgoog_djvu.txt] [https://archive.org/stream/popularsciencemo45newy/popularsciencemo45newy_djvu.txt] ==Biography== Troost was born in [Den Bosch](/source/Den_Bosch), [Netherlands](/source/Netherlands), to Anna Cornelia (Van Heeck) and Everardus Josephus Troost. He was the older brother of [Benoist Troost](/source/Benoist_Troost).{{Cite news |last=Euston |first=Diane |date=31 July 2022 |title=DR. BENOIST TROOST: BEYOND THE STREET WHICH BEARS HIS NAME. . . FOR NOW |url=https://martincitytelegraph.com/2022/07/31/dr-benoist-troost-beyond-the-street-which-bears-his-name-for-now/ |work=Martin City Telegraph}} He received the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the [University of Leyden](/source/University_of_Leyden), and of Master in Pharmacy, in 1801, from the [University of Amsterdam](/source/University_of_Amsterdam). After a brief practice at Amsterdam and the Hague, he was enlisted in the army as a private soldier, and then as an officer of the first class in the medical department. During these periods of service, he was wounded in the thigh and in the head. In 1807, Troost went to Paris under the patronage of [Louis Napoleon, King of Holland](/source/Louis_Bonaparte). There he studied at the [School of Mines](/source/%C3%89cole_nationale_sup%C3%A9rieure_des_mines_de_Paris) with renowned mineralogist [René Just Haüy](/source/Ren%C3%A9_Just_Ha%C3%BCy). While in Paris, he translated into the Dutch language one of the earlier works of [Alexander von Humboldt](/source/Alexander_von_Humboldt), ''The Aspects of Nature''. This service brought him the cordial thanks of the author, with whom he maintained a friendly correspondence to the last. In 1810, he settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. While there, he lectured on chemistry and mineralogy and made a geological survey of the area surrounding the city. Doctor Troost served five years as president of the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences.{{Cite journal|last=Wood|first=Elvira|date=May 8, 1909|title=A Critical Summary of Troost's Unpublished Manuscript on the Crinoids of Tennessee|url=https://repository.si.edu/handle/10088/10246|journal=Bulletin of the United States National Museum|issue=64|pages=1-xi, 1–150, 16 pls. (page v)|doi=10.5479/si.03629236.64.1|hdl=10088/10246|hdl-access=free|url-access=subscription}} In 1816, Troost was elected as a member of the [American Philosophical Society](/source/American_Philosophical_Society).{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=1816&year-max=1816&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=2021-04-02|website=search.amphilsoc.org}} thumb|Drawing of Troost from a 1909 publication In 1825, he joined the New Harmony experiment, in [New Harmony, Indiana](/source/New_Harmony%2C_Indiana), with [Thomas Say](/source/Thomas_Say). In 1827, he moved to [Nashville, Tennessee](/source/Nashville%2C_Tennessee), where he became a professor of mineralogy and chemistry at the [University of Nashville](/source/University_of_Nashville). From 1831 until 1850, he served as the State Geologist of [Tennessee](/source/Tennessee). While there he sent animal specimens to [John Edwards Holbrook](/source/John_Edwards_Holbrook). His most enduring contribution to science was his method of doing geological surveys, which was carried on by [David Dale Owen](/source/David_Dale_Owen), son of [Robert Owen](/source/Robert_Owen), who went on to do several surveys of the American northwest. Troost died in Nashville in August 1850 from [cholera](/source/cholera), which was [epidemic in that city](/source/Nashville_cholera_epidemic_(1849%E2%80%931850)).{{cite web |url=http://www.minrec.org/labels.asp?colid=1077 |title=Gerard Troost (1776-1850) |last=Wilson |first=Wendell E. |year=2014 |work=Mineralogical Record Biographical Archive |access-date=2014-03-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140329004637/http://www.minrec.org/labels.asp?colid=1077 |archive-date=2014-03-29 |url-status=dead }} ==Work and legacy== Troost is credited with describing, as new [species](/source/species), two North American reptiles: the alligator snapping turtle (''[Macrochelys temminckii](/source/Macrochelys_temminckii))'' and the western cottonmouth (''[Agkistrodon piscivorus leucostoma](/source/Agkistrodon_piscivorus_leucostoma)''). He is honored by having a [subspecies](/source/subspecies) of [turtle](/source/turtle) named after him, the Cumberland turtle (''[Trachemys scripta troostii](/source/Trachemys_scripta_troostii))''.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. {{ISBN|978-1-4214-0135-5}}. ("Troost", p. 268).Beltz, Ellin (2006). [http://ebeltz.net/herps/biogappx.html Biographies of People Honored in the Herpetological Nomenclature of North America]. Ebeltz.net. Retrieved on 2012-03-28. The reddish-colored crystals of a variety of ''[willemite](/source/willemite)'' found in [New Jersey](/source/New_Jersey) are known as ''troostite''.[http://faculty.evansville.edu/ck6/bstud/troost.html New Harmony Scientists, Educators, Writers & Artists: Gerard Troost]. Faculty.evansville.edu. Retrieved on 2012-03-28. In 1866, Dr. [Benjamin F. Shumard](/source/Benjamin_Franklin_Shumard) named a genus of fossil blastoids ''Troosticrinus'' in his honor.{{Cite journal|last=Shumard|first=Benjamin|author-link=Benjamin Franklin Shumard |date=1866|title=A Catalogue of the Paleozoic Fossils of North America|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/28712#page/426/mode/1up|journal=The Transactions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis|publisher=George Knapp & Co., Printers and Binders|volume=II. 1861-1868|pages=384 footnote}} In 1909, [Elvira Wood](/source/Elvira_Wood_(paleontologist)) edited and published Troost's unpublished [monograph](/source/monograph) on the [crinoid](/source/crinoid)s of [Tennessee](/source/Tennessee) (1850).{{Cite book|last=Wood|first=Elvira|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/985731050|title=A critical summary of Troost's unpublished manuscript on the crinoids of Tennessee|publisher=Smithsonian Museum; Government Printing Office|year=1909|location=Washington, D. C.|oclc=985731050|issue=64}} This brought Troost's previously unknown work back into geological and paleontological discourse. ==References== {{Source-attribution|{{cite book|author=Bonnier Corporation|title=Popular Science|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0iQDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA258|date=June 1894|publisher=Bonnier Corporation}}}} {{reflist}} ==External links== *[http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_217458 Gerard Troost Manuscript and Related Notes, Papers and Drawings, 1849-1904] from the [Smithsonian Institution Archives](/source/Smithsonian_Institution_Archives) *[https://www.wiewaswie.nl/nl/detail/12056992/ Baptism of Gerardus Troost]{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Troost, Gerard}} Category:19th-century Dutch geologists Category:19th-century American geologists Category:American mineralogists Category:1776 births Category:1850 deaths Category:Leiden University alumni Category:People from 's-Hertogenbosch Category:People from New Harmony, Indiana Category:University of Amsterdam alumni Category:19th-century Dutch medical doctors Category:Deaths from cholera in the United States Category:Dutch emigrants to the United States Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Gerard Troost](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerard_Troost) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerard_Troost?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.