author
Frederic Brewster Loomis
1873–1937
A pioneering American paleontologist, he spent his career at Amherst College uncovering and studying ancient vertebrate life. His fieldwork helped build collections that are still central to Amherst’s natural history museum.
2 Audiobooks
Field book of common rocks and minerals : for identifying the rocks and minerals of the United States and interpreting their origins and meanings
by Frederic Brewster Loomis
The Deseado Formation of Patagonia
by Frederic Brewster Loomis
About the author
Born in Brooklyn on November 22, 1873, he became one of Amherst College’s best-known scientists. He studied at Amherst, continued his training at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, and then devoted his professional life to teaching and research at Amherst.
His specialty was vertebrate paleontology, and he carried out major field expeditions across the United States and beyond. Fossils he collected and studied remained important enough to be featured for decades in Amherst’s museum collections, and later college accounts of his work remembered both his scientific energy and his gift for bringing prehistoric life vividly to students and readers.
He died on July 28, 1937, in Sitka, Alaska. Today he is remembered not only for his research, but also for helping shape Amherst’s tradition of hands-on natural history and fossil discovery.