Ellis L. Yochelson was the author of a two-volume biography of a former secretary of the Smithsonian Institution of 20 years called Charles Doolittle Walcott, Paleontologist (1998). Yochelson also wrote The National Museum of Natural History: 75 Years in the Natural History Building, and numerous articles on paleontology and the history of science.
Born in DC, Yochelson was founder of the North American Paleontological Convention, and winner of the History of Geology Award (2003). His environmental activism led to laws across the U.S. establishing mandatory deposits on bottles and cans. He researched fossil mollusks, particularly snails and their relatives, and traveled with a Russian scientist across eastern North America to examine every known climactichnite fossil, a soft-bodied animal whose movements left mysterious chevron-shaped fossil imprints resembling dual motorcycle tracks.
Yochelson worked for the U.S. Geological Survey from 1952 to 1985, and was also a research associate at the National Museum of Natural History beginning in 1967. He taught at American University, George Washington University, the University of Maryland, and the University of Delaware. He lived at this address from 1962 through 2006.
The Homes
12303 Stafford Lane, Bowie, MD
Ellis L. Yochelson
12303 Stafford Lane
Located in Maryland