ACADEMY OP SCEKCES] BIOGRAPHY 13 



The most prominent characteristic of Doctor Becker, as viewed by the writer, was his 

 persistent aggressive attitude toward geophysical problems and the establishment of a labora- 

 tory for the experimental work essential to their solution. This was the one dominant feature 

 of his career and one which was ultimately crowned with success by the establishment of the 

 Carnegie Geophysical Laboratory. That he was thoroughly in earnest in this is shown — if 

 further evidence is needed — in his last will and testament, by which his entire residual estate 

 is to pass to the Smithsonian Institution to be applied to "the advancement of geophysics." 



His thoughtfulness and willingness to assist in matters covering a wide field was little 

 realized by the majority of his acquaintances. It was at his suggestion that there was estab- 

 lished in 1909, by the National Academy of Sciences, a medal to be conferred from time to 

 time upon men " who can not be classed as eminent scientists, but who are eminent in the 

 application of science to the public welfare." His article in the National Geographic Magazine, 

 "Revolt of the Uitlanders," was a model of unprejudiced plain speaking and unquestionably 

 did much toward clarifying the public mind on a subject concerning which it was at best 

 poorly informed. His remark in that connection that "no man of ordinary virtue who does 

 not identify himself with the country in which he lives, to whom that country is not a 'home' 

 will use his official power . . . for the best interests of the community from which he longs 

 to be gone" is worthy of repetition. 



Becker took an ardent and decided stand in the Great War; and though there is found 

 little on the subject in his correspondence, it is known that he was thoroughly American in 

 thought and action. 



Doctor Becker enjoyed a wide range of acquaintances both among the scientific fraternity 

 in America and abroad and what is commonly spoken of as "society," particularly that of 

 the higher circles of political life, and around his hospitable table there gathered not only mem- 

 bers of the congressional delegations, but the Cabinet, Supreme Court, and foreign legations 

 as well. 



Doctor Becker received the degree of Ph.D. (summa cum lauda) from the University of 

 Heidelberg in 1869, being, it is said, the first foreign student to attain this distinction, and was 

 graduated with high honors from the Royal Academy of Mines of Berlin in 1871. He was an 

 original fellow of the Geological Society of America and was president of the same in 1914. 

 He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Washington Academy of Sciences, 

 the Geological Society of Washington, the American Institute of Mining Engineers, and an 

 honorary member of the Geological Society of South Africa. With the exception of the two 

 years 1892-1894, when the position was abolished for lack of appropriations, Doctor Becker 

 held in the United States Geological Survey, for the entire period from 1880 until his death, 

 the position of "geologist in charge." 



He represented the Government in different geological congresses and in the Radioactivity 

 Congress in Brussels of 1910. 



Doctor Becker was thrice married. First to Sarah M. Barnes, from whom he was 

 legally separated in 1879, and on June 17 of the same year to Alice Theodora Watson, who 

 died early in the year following. On February 11, 1902, he was married to Florence Serpell 

 Deakins, who survives him. During the later years of his life he suffered severely from asthma 

 and its complications, but retained active interest in his work until the last. He died at his 

 home in Washington, April 20, 1919, at the age of 72 years. 



