Gerard Troost, PhD, State Geologist

Gerardus Troost , 1776 Den Bosch Noord Brabant Netherlands 1850 Nashville, Tennessee,, USA

State Geologist. Born in Holland. Moved to Philadelphia, 1811. Moved to Tenn., 1827. Professor at University of Nashville, 1828-1850.

Gerard Troost, was an American-Dutch medical doctor, naturalist, mineralogist, and founding member and first president of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences

Troost was born Bois-le-Duc, Netherlands, to Anna Cornelia (Van Heeck) and Everhardus Josephus Troost. He received the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the University of Leyden, and of Master in Pharmacy, in 1801, from the University of Amsterdam.

After a brief practice in at Amsterdam and the Hague, he was enlisted in the army as a private soldier, and then as an officer of the first class in the medical department. During these periods of service he was wounded in the thigh and in the head.

In 1825 he joined the New Harmony experiment, in New Harmony, Indiana, with Thomas Say. In 1827 he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he became a professor of mineralogy and chemistry at the University of Nashville. From 1831 until 1850 he served as the State Geologist of Tennessee. While there he sent animal specimens to John Edwards Holbrook. His most enduring contribution to science was his method of doing geological surveys, which was carried on by David Dale Owen, son of Robert Owen, who went on to do several surveys of the American northwest.

An interesting side note, Dr. Troost had his friend and prominent Nashville architect to illustrate the plates of the monograph, Major Adolphus Heiman. Twelve years later, Major Heiman was later promoted to colonel in the 10th Tennessee Infantry during the Civil War

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