The Wisconsin roots of ground water hydrology.

We can trace the roots of ground water hydrology in the U.S. to Wisconsin at the end of the nineteenth century when there was a remarkable confluence of talent at the University of Wisconsin (now the University of WisconsinMadison), including T.C. Chamberlin, F.H. King and C.S. Slichter. Although none of these men likely would have identified himself as a hydrologist, each did seminal work in ground water hydrology. Thomas Crowder Chamberlin was born on a farm in Illinois, just south of Beloit, Wisconsin. He received degrees from Beloit College in 1866 and 1869 (Bailey 1981) and later taught at Whitewater Normal School (now the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater) and from 1873-1882 at Beloit College during which time he also worked at the Wisconsin Geological Survey (now the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey), serving as Chief Geologist starting in 1876. He became known nationally for his work on the glacial geology of the state. In 1887, he became president of the University of Wisconsin, a position he occupied until 1892 when he left to head a new geology department at the University of Chicago. Buildings are named in his honor on the campus of Beloit College and at the UW-Madison. On the Madison campus there is also Chamberlin Rock, a large, gneissic, glacially-rounded boulder, perched on the side of Observatory Hill. While in Wisconsin, Chamberlin wrote his famous essay on the method of multiple working hypotheses (Chamberlin 1890), which advocates that multiple lines of evidence be pursued simultaneously when investigating geological phenomena. His 1885 paper entitled “The Requisite and Qualifying Conditions of Artesian Wells” (Chamberlin 1885; reTHE WISCONSIN ROOTS OF GROUND WATER HYDROLOGY