Waldemar Lindgren (February 14, 1860 – November 3, 1939) was a Swedish-American geologist and a founder of modern economic geology.[1]
Lindgren was born in Vassmolösa, Kalmar Municipality, Småland, Sweden, the son of Johan and Emma Lindgren. Johan was a judge and member of parliament, Emma the daughter of a clergyman. He attended the Freiberg Mining Academy, Germany, graduating as a mining engineer in 1882.
In 1884, Lindgren began a 31-year career with the U.S. Geological Survey, working on ore deposits in the Rocky Mountains. In 1905, he helped found the journal Economic Geology. In 1912, he was appointed head of the Department of Geology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Lindgren was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1909,[2] the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1912,[3] and the American Philosophical Society in 1917.[4] He was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1931. He was a fellow of the Mineralogical Society of America. He was president of the Geological Society of America in 1924[5][6] (winning its Penrose Medal in 1933[7]) and of the Society of Economic Geologists (winning its Penrose Gold Medal in 1928[8]).
Lindgren's published writings run to nearly 200 titles, not counting discussions, reviews, and more than 1,000 abstracts. Most are on the great ore deposits. Editions of Mineral Deposits, his widely used textbook, were published in 1913, 1919, 1928 and 1933.[9]
Lindgren died in 1939 in Brighton, Boston.[10]
