John Eliot Wolff

John Eliot Wolff was born in 1857 in Montreal, Canada. He earned his degrees at Harvard (AB 1879, AM, PhD 1889 in Natural History). From 1886 until 1892, he was an instructor in Petrology and Petrography.

Wolff began teaching petrography in 1886 as a member of the geological staff. In 1892, he became Assistant Professor of Petrography in 1892. In 1894, Harvard created a new Department of Mineralogy and Petrography with Wolff at its head. Prior to this, instruction in mineralogy was offered by Professor J. P. Cooke in the Department of Chemistry. In 1895, Wolff was promoted to Professor of Petrography and Mineralogy. He held this position until his retirement in 1923.

J. P. Cooke, shortly before his death in 1894, had secured funds for setting up a section of the Museum of Natural History devoted to a mineral collection. Wolff became Curator of this Mineralogical Museum when the new Department was

formed in 1894. He devoted a large part of his time to it. He remained curator until his retirement in 1923.

John Eliot Wolff died at age 82 of thirst and exhaustion in the Mojave Desert, California. He was traveling by car across the desert for a one-day camping trip, when he apparently got stuck in the sand. While awaiting death or rescue, Professor Wolff wrote a codicil to his will, leaving a bequest to his gardener.