John Strong Newberry, an American geologist, born at New Windsor, Conn., Dec. 22, 1822. His father in 1824 emigrated to Ohio, where he founded the town of Cuyahoga Falls. He graduated at the Western Reserve college in 1846, and at the Cleveland medical college in 1848. In 1849-'50 he travelled and studied abroad, and upon his return established himself in 1851 as a physician in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1855 he was appointed acting assistant surgeon and geologist in the expedition under Lieut. Williamson to explore the country between San Francisco and the Columbia river. The results of this expedition are embodied in vol. vi. of the " Pacific Railroad Reports." The reports of Dr. Newberry on "The Geology, Botany, and Zoology of North California and Oregon " were published separately in a quarto volume, with 48 illustrations. In 1857-'8 he accompanied Lieut. Ives in the exploration and navigation of the Colorado river, and prepared half of the report, containing, in the words of the commanding officer, "the most interesting material gathered by the expedition." In 1859 he was connected with another party sent out by the war department for the exploration of the San Juan and upper Colorado rivers.

During the summer the party travelled over a large part of what is now southern Colorado, northern Arizona, and New Mexico, a region before almost unknown. The report of this expedition remains (1875) still unpublished.. During the civil war Dr. Newberry was secretary of the western department of the sanitary commission. In 1866 he was appointed professor of geology in the school of mines of Columbia college, New York, and in 1869 became also state geologist of Ohio. He was one of the original corporators of the national academy of sciences, has been president of the American association for the advancement of science, and is president of the New York lyceum of natural history. His most valuable papers have been upon the drift and carboniferous formations, and on fossil fishes and plants.