A few columns back I discussed how Troy was the birthplace of American Geology. There's more to the story. In fact, two of today's largest scientific organizations in the world have roots here in the Capital District, founded by local scientists.

The name Powers is well known in Lansingburgh. William Powers, a former schoolteacher started a successful oil cloth factory on Second Avenue in 1817. After a freak accident took his life, his wife Deborah, and two sons Albert and Nathaniel carried on the business. They became one of the leading business families in the village operating a bank, opera house, and helped fund schools and the needy.

In 1862, Albert had a son A.W. At the age of 22, A.W. married Matilda Wheeler Page in 1884 . They had one son, Sidney, born in 1890.

Sidney Powers is one of the most respected names in American Geology today.

Powers attended school in Troy and at the age of 21 earned his BA in geology from nearby Williams College.

Powers' early work in Oklahoma was a major event in the evolution of the field of petroleum geology and the oil industry.

At the time most oil searching was done by looking at hills and valleys, mostly a surficial geology approach. Powers promoted the importance of looking underground instead and this led to the beginning of the use of drill cuttings and geophysical prospecting, according to Dr. Gerald Friedman from the Northeastern Science Foundation.

During his short lifetime Powers published 124 articles that explain how to use geology to find oil and are still used today around the world. Powers was a founding father of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), today the largest geological society in the world. In fact, 'The Sidney Power Medal' is the AAPG's most prestigious honor. Powers died in 1932 and is buried at Oakwood Cemetery.

Across the River in Albany, Joseph Henry was born in 1797-1878 and lived at 105 Columbia Street, not far from City Hall. Henry is the inventor of the electric motor, is called the father of daily weather forecasts (he established six hundred observation stations around the country in two years ), and was the first head of the Smithsonian Institution (1846).

Joseph Henry taught at the Boys Academy next to his home and discovered a way to transmit sound over wire by magnetic force (the telegraph) in 1832. His friend was S.F.B. Morse who went on to perfect the Morse Code and get credit for the telegraph. Henry also was a big supporter of Alexander Graham Bell in his invention of the Telephone.

Henry was a founding member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1848 (and later president). The AAAS was the first permanent organization formed to promote the development of science and engineering at the national level representing all disciplines. (today the largest scientific organization in the U.S.). By the way, Almira Phelps, a science writer from Troy, New York, was one of the first women members (joined prior to 1860).

The 1856 AAAS meeting was held in Albany and was organized by NYS Geologist and AAAS president James Hall, Father of American Paleontology. It involved the dedication of two major scientific facilities in Albany: the NYS Geological Museum (now the NYS Museum) and the Dudley Observatory, both still in existence. Hall also presented his famous paper on the theory of "geosynclines."

Joseph Henry was also one of the original members of a group that later became the National Academy of Sciences in 1863, and served as its second president.

When Henry died on May 16, 1878, the entire federal government closed. His funeral was attended by the President, Vice-President, Cabinet, Supreme Court judges, members of Congress, and others. Henry was one of the most respected scientists in the country. In 1883, the government closed again to dedicate a stature in his honor.

James Eights, born on North Pearl Street was an Albany Physician, who never practiced medicine. Instead he became the first American naturalist to visit and study the Antarctic on a quasi government back expedition organized by Edmund Fanning . This "Voyage of Discovery" sailed from Connecticut ports for the South Seas in October, 1829. Eights wrote the first geological and botanical description of parts of the Antarctic area. He explored Patagonia, Deception and Staaten Islands, Tierra Del Feugo, and the South Shetland Islands.

He also discovered three new species of crustacea and won scientific praise.

Locally Eights is known as an artist who painted early Albany street scenes but his geological work is praised in scientific circles.

Eights studied under Troy's Amos Eaton, the Father of American Geology, and participated in Eaton's floating school done the Erie Canal. Eights produced a number of maps and etchings which have been widely reproduced around the world. These were among the first ever illustrations.

Eights was later appointed to go on the first government sanctioned Wilkes Expedition back to Antarctica in 1838, but was bumped.

He spent the rest of his life writing and popularizing science in local magazines and journals. He briefly left the area and was a geologist in North Carolina in the 1850's. But his major contributions which still are praised is his work in the Antarctic.

Locally, his work in describing the natural history of the Albany Pine Bush in 1836 in his "Every Day Naturalist Book" was instrumental in showing the negative impacts that development has had on the region today.

Eights died in 1882 at the age of 84 in Ballston Spa.

These three local men had a profound influence on the early development of science in this country and their contributions are still recognized by the scientific community today.