Editing Fielding Bradford Meek (section)

== Biography ==
[[Image:Illustration mollusks Fielding Bradford Meek.jpg|thumb|Drawings of mollusks by Fielding Bradford Meek]]

The son of a lawyer, he was born in [[Madison, Indiana]]. In early life he was in business as a merchant, but he became deaf and spent his leisure hours devoted to collecting [[fossil]]s and studying the rocks of the neighborhood of Madison. Being unsuccessful in business with delicate health he turned his whole attention to science, and in 1848 he gained employment on the [[United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories]] as an assistant to [[David Dale Owen|D. D. Owen]] in [[Iowa]], and subsequently in [[Wisconsin]] and [[Minnesota]]. In 1852 he became assistant to [[James Hall (paleontologist)|Professor James Hall]] at [[Albany, New York]], and worked at palaeontology with him until 1858. He received training in illustration from Frederick Swinton. Meanwhile, in 1853 he accompanied [[Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden|FV Hayden]] in an exploration of the [[badlands]] of [[Dakota Territory|Dakota]] and brought back valuable collections of fossils.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Meek, Fielding Bradford|volume=18|page=71}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Lang|first1=Harry G.|last2=Santiago-Blay|first2=Jorge A.|date=2012|title=Contributions of deaf people to entomology: A hidden legacy|url=https://brill.com/view/journals/tar/5/3-4/article-p223_3.xml|journal=Terrestrial Arthropod Reviews|volume=5|issue=3–4|pages=223–268|doi=10.1163/18749836-05031052|issn=1874-9828|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

In 1858 following clashes with Hall he went to [[Washington, D.C.]], where he devoted his time to the palaeontological work of the United States geological and geographical surveys, his work bearing the stamp of the most faithful and conscientious research, and raising him to the highest rank as a palaeontologist.<ref name="EB1911"/>  About this time, both he and Hayden joined the [[Megatherium Club]] at the [[Smithsonian]] Institution.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/meek-f-b.pdf|author= White, Charles A.|year=1896|title=Memoir of Fielding Bradford Meek 1817-1876| journal=Biographical Memoirs. National Academy of Sciences|pages= 75–91}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Nelson|first=Clifford M.|date=1987|title=Meek at Albany, 1852-58|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24138683|journal=Earth Sciences History|volume=6|issue=1|pages=40–46|doi=10.17704/eshi.6.1.u2g030n427ul0x0k|jstor=24138683|bibcode=1987ESHis...6...40N |issn=0736-623X|via=|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

In 1867, he was elected as a member of the [[American Philosophical Society]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=1867&year-max=1867&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=2021-04-21|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref>

Besides many separate contributions to science, he prepared with [[William More Gabb|WM Gabb]] (1839–1878) two volumes on the ''palaeontology of California'' (1864–1869) and a ''Report on the Invertebrate Cretaceous and Tertiary Fossils of the Upper Missouri Country'' (1876).<ref name="EB1911"/> He died of [[tuberculosis]] at Washington in 1876 and is interred at [[Congressional Cemetery]].