Gregory was born October 15, 1869, in
Middleville, Michigan, to George A. Gregory and Jane Bross. In 1890, he received his
B.S. at
Gates College located in
Neligh, Nebraska. From 1919 to 1936 he served as director of the
Bishop Museum in
Hawaii, where, in 1961, after his death, he was honored by a medal named after him. The Herbert E. Gregory Medal is awarded every four years by the
Pacific Science Association to a leading scientist in the Pacific Region. His seminal work included mapping much of the bedrock geology of the
Colorado Plateau, particularly in geologic monographs concentrating on what is now the
Navajo Nation in northeastern
Arizona and southeastern
Utah. Among many other achievements, he was the first to name and describe the
Upper Triassic Chinle Formation, which is famous for preserving extensive fossil evidence of
Late Triassic terrestrial ecosystems, including
fossilized logs. In 1931, Gregory published the first
geological map of the
Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument. Gregory stated that no fossils had been discovered; however, many were later found. ==References==