George Gibbs (mineralogist)
George Gibbs (January 7, 1776 – August 6, 1833) was an American mineralogist and mineral collector. He was born in Newport, Rhode Island, the son of a wealthy merchant. In 1796 his father sent him to study the mercantile trade in Canton, China. He also traveled in Europe, studying minerals in Lausanne and Paris, where he learned from Heinrich von Struve. Gibbs befriended leading European mineralogists and spent much of his early life collecting minerals.
On returning to Rhode Island, he brought together one of the United States’ largest mineral cabinets. His collection combined the works of Jean Gigot d’Orcy (about 4,000 specimens), Gregoire de Razumowsky (about 6,000), and Gibbs’s own pieces, totaling more than 20,000 minerals. The collection was first shown in Newport, and later kept near his Newport home when it grew too large. In 1805 the Rhode Island governor appointed Gibbs as Aide-de-Camp and gave him the rank of Colonel.
Gibbs became friends with Yale professor Benjamin Silliman, and in 1811 an exhibit of his collection was displayed at Yale. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1813. In 1825 he sold his entire twenty-thousand-specimen collection to Yale for $20,000, a purchase funded with Silliman’s influence. Gibbs continued to travel, discover new mineral localities, and publish articles in scientific journals. In 1822 he was elected vice-president of the New York Lyceum of Natural History.
He may have organized the first path to the summit of Mount Washington around 1809, though the evidence is uncertain. He married Laura Wolcott on December 27, 1810; she was the daughter of Oliver Wolcott Jr. They had seven children, including George and Oliver Wolcott Gibbs, who became a notable Harvard chemist, and Alfred. Gibbs died on August 6, 1833, in Sunswick, Long Island.
The mineral gibbsite is named after him.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 12:46 (CET).