David Dale Owen (24 June 1807 – 13 November 1860) was a prominent American geologist who conducted the first geological surveys of Indiana, Kentucky, Arkansas, Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota.

In addition, Owen was appointed as a U.S. geologist in 1839 and led federal surveys of Iowa, Wisconsin, and northern Illinois (1839–40) and in the Upper Midwest (1847-1851).

David Dale was the third surviving son of Robert Owen, a Welsh-born socialist reformer who established a social experiment at New Harmony, Indiana.

In addition to his geological survey work, Owen had a minor role in the preliminary design of the Smithsonian Institution Building in Washington, D.C., and recommended the distinctive, dark-red Seneca Creek sandstone that was used in its construction.

[5][6] Like his brothers, Owen was privately tutored at home before he was sent as a teenager to Philipp Emanuel von Fellenberg's school at Hofwyl, Switzerland.

[7][8][9] David and his brother, Richard, returned to Scotland in 1826 and continued their education in science under Andrew Ure at the Andersonian Institute at Glasgow.

After the party arrived in New York City in January 1828, David immediately went to New Harmony, Indiana, to live at the experimental socialistic community his father has established in 1825.

[7][11] Although he was frequently absent while pursuing his education and for his professional work, David Dale Owen established a permanent residence and a laboratory in New Harmony.

[11][14][15] In addition to his formal training in science and medicine, it is likely that Owen became interested in geology because of his father's business partnership with geologist William Maclure, a well-known educator and scientist who served as president of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia from 1817 to 1840, and Gerhard Troost, a Dutch geologist, mineralogist, zoologist, and chemist.

[11][14][26] During the first year of the survey, Owen traveled about a thousand miles on horseback to examine the state's geology, including its stone and coal resources.

In this role he led federal surveys from 1839 to 1840 and from 1847 to 1851 of the Midwestern United States, which included Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and part of northern Illinois.

[31] The surveys of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, as well as the subsequent publication of the related reports, were Owen's major achievements and the high point of his career.

[35] In addition to his geological survey work, Owen had a minor role in the preliminary design of the Smithsonian Institution Building in Washington, D.C.

The following year Owen identified a quarry at Bull Run, twenty-three miles from nation's capital, that provided the stone for the project.

Owen also donated his services as a consultant without compensation to the Institution's Board of Regents and helped architect James Renwick Jr., whose design was selected for the building, prepare drawings for its chemistry department.

[42][43] His rivals, especially Joseph Granville Norwood, his colleague and one-time assistant, criticized Owen for enlarging his personal collection of specimens while working on public surveys.

"[45] Due to the outbreak of American Civil War and for other reasons, author Clark Kimberling believes it is unlikely that the collections sent to Kentucky and Arkansas have survived.

About a thousand of the specimens were saved, but most of these were sent to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Twenty-two items from the collection were eventually housed in Owen Hall, an IU building erected in the 1880s at Dunn's Woods on the present-day campus in Bloomington.

[54] Owen's greatest legacy lies in the eleven volumes of published reports from his state and federal geological surveys.