Dana was born February 12, 1813, in
Utica, New York. His father was merchant James Dana (1780–1860) and his mother was Harriet Dwight (1792–1870). Through his mother he was related to the Dwight
New England family of missionaries and educators including uncle
Harrison Gray Otis Dwight and first cousin
Henry Otis Dwight. He showed an early interest in science, which had been fostered by Fay Edgerton, a teacher in the Utica high school, and in 1830 he entered
Yale College in order to study under
Benjamin Silliman the elder. Graduating in 1833, His labors in preparing the reports of his explorations occupied parts of thirteen years after his return to America in 1842. His notebooks from the four years of travel contained fifty sketches, maps, and diagrams, including views of both
Mount Shasta and
Castle Crags. Dana's sketch of
Mount Shasta was engraved in 1849 for publication in the
American Journal of Science and Arts (which Silliman had founded in 1818), along with a lengthy article based on Dana's 1841 geological notes. In the article he described in scientific terms the rocks, minerals, and geology of the Shasta region. As far as is known, his sketch of
Mount Shasta became the second view of the mountain ever published. In 1844 he again became a resident of
New Haven, and married Professor Silliman's daughter, Henrietta Frances Silliman. In 1850, he was appointed as Silliman's successor, as Silliman Professor of Natural History and Geology in Yale College, a position which he held until 1892. In 1846 he became joint editor, and during the later years of his life was chief editor, of the
American Journal of Science and Arts, to which he was a constant contributor, principally of articles on geology and mineralogy. in 1858 The 1849 publication of his geology of
Mount Shasta was undoubtedly a response to the
California gold rush publicity. Dana was the pre-eminent U.S.
geologist of his time, and he also was one of the few trained observers anywhere who had first-hand knowledge of the northern California terrain. He had previously written that there was a likelihood that gold was to be found all along the route between the
Umpqua River in
Oregon and the
Sacramento Valley. He was probably deluged with inquiries about the Shasta region, and was forced to publish in more detail some advice to the would-be gold
miners. He was elected as a member to the
American Philosophical Society in 1854. Dana was responsible for developing much of the early knowledge on
Hawaiian volcanism. In 1880 and 1881 he led the first geological study of the volcanics of
Hawaii island. Dana theorized that the volcanic chain consisted of two volcanic strands, dubbed the "Loa" and "Kea" trends. The Kea trend included
Kīlauea,
Mauna Kea,
Kohala,
Haleakala, and
West Maui. The Loa trend includes
Kamaʻehuakanaloa (formerly Lōihi),
Mauna Loa,
Hualālai,
Kahoolawe,
Lānai, and
West Molokai. Following another expedition by fellow geologist
C. E. Dutton in 1884, Dana returned to the island once again and in 1890 he published a manuscript on the island that was the most detailed of its day, and would be the definitive source upon the island's volcanics for decades. Dana was a beloved teacher of geology. According to
Oliver C. Farrington,
To SIT at the feet of Professor Dana and drink from the overflowing fountains of his knowledge, was a privilege which once enjoyed could never be forgotten. Some examples of his teaching style were given by
Oliver C. Farrington Dana died on April 14, 1895. ==Family==