Wilbur Clinton Knight

Wilbur Clinton Knight (13 December 1858 – 28 July 1903) was a geologist and founding professor of geology at the University of Wyoming.

Knight was born at Rochelle, Illinois from where his father David moved to farm in Blue Springs, Nebraska.

He then worked as an assayer at Swan Testing and Sampling Company from 1887 in Cheyenne, he became superintendent of mines in 1888 for Colorado and Wyoming.

He also founded the geological museum for which he made collections himself while also making use of the services of William Harlow Reed.

[3] Knight discovered fossil elephants in Wyoming in 1903[4] and estimated the Cenozoic Era to have lasted around four million years.