geologist, professor, b. Trempealeau. After attending business school, he became secretary to Charles R. Van Hise (q.v.) who encouraged him to attend the Univ. of Wisconsin (B.S., 1897; Ph.D., 1901). From 1902 to 1945 he taught geology at Wisconsin, serving as departmental chairman from 1903 to 1934. He introduced courses in the economics of geology, with emphasis given on international relations and the effects of geology on war and peace. His studies of the pre-Cambrian period, iron deposits, structural geology, and metamorphism are considered to be classic in their field. He served as associate editor of the journal of Geology and Economic Geology and was president of the Society of Economic Geologists (1925) and the Geological Society of America (1933). Leith played an important role as a consultant for the U.S. government, serving as an adviser to the War Shipping Board, American Commission to Negotiate the Peace, War Production Board, Office of Production Management, Manhattan Project, and the Atomic Energy Commission. Who's Who in Amer., 27 (1952); Madison Capital Times, Sept. 14, 1956; Univ. of Wis. Faculty Memorial, Document 1236, Nov. 5, 1956, on file in office of secretary of the faculty; M. Curti and V. Carstensen, Univ. of Wis. (2 vols., Madison, 1949).

The Wisconsin Historical Society has manuscripts related to this topic. See the catalog description of the Charles Kenneth Leith Pre-Cambrian Sediments of the East Shore of Hudson Bay for details.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]