Daniel Barringer
Early Life
Daniel Moreau Barringer was born on May 25, 1860, in Concord, a small city in Cabarrus County. He was the son of Rufus Barringer and Eugenia Moreau. His father was a distinguished lawyer and a former Civil War cavalry officer.
Education
Barringer attended the University of North Carolina (UNC) for his undergraduate studies. He later attended the University of Virginia for his law degree. After completing his law degree, Barringer studied geology at Harvard and the Sorbonne in Paris.
Career
Barringer practiced law in Philadelphia for a few years before his interest in mining led him to the West. He became a successful mining engineer and businessman, owning several mines in the Southwest.
Barringer Crater
In 1902, Barringer became interested in a large crater in the desert of Northern Arizona, known today as the Barringer Crater. He hypothesized that it was caused by the impact of a large iron meteorite, a theory that was controversial at the time. Despite skepticism from the scientific community, Barringer spent over two decades and a significant portion of his fortune to prove his theory.
Later Life and Death
Barringer continued his research on the crater until his death on November 30, 1929. His work was posthumously validated in the 1960s when new evidence supported his meteor impact theory.
Legacy
Barringer's work on the Meteor Crater has had a profound impact on the field of planetary science. His theory about the crater's formation paved the way for the acceptance of impact cratering as a fundamental geological process on Earth and other planets.