in 1868 he accepted an offer of a professorship at the newly established University of California. In September 1869, he moved west to Berkeley, California. His older brother John had come to California in April 1869, also to join the faculty of the new university as a professor of physics. Joseph was appointed the first professor of geology and natural history and botany at the university, a post which he held until his death. He was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1873. He published a series of papers on monocular and binocular vision, and also on psychology. His chief contributions, however, related to geology. He described the fissure-eruptions in western America, discoursed on earth-crust movements and their causes and on the great features of the Earth's surface. As separate works he published Elements of Geology (1878, 5th ed. 1889); Religion and Science (1874); and Evolution and its Relation to Religious Thought (1888). This last work anticipates in structure and argument Teilhard de Chardin's "Phenomenon of Man".(1955). LeConte endorsed theistic evolution. Legacy In 1874, he was nominated to the National Academy of Sciences. He was president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1892, and of the Geological Society of America in 1896. Le Conte is also noted for his exploration and preservation of the Sierra Nevada of California, United States. He first visited Yosemite Valley in 1870, where he became friends with John Muir and started exploring the Sierra. He became concerned that resource exploitation (such as sheepherding) would ruin the Sierra, so he co-founded the Sierra Club with Muir and others in 1892. He was a director of the Sierra Club from 1892 through 1898. His son, Joseph Nisbet LeConte, was also a noted professor and Sierra Club member. He died of a heart attack in Yosemite Valley, California, on July 6, 1901, right before the Sierra Club's first High Trip. The Sierra Club built the LeConte Memorial Lodge in his honor in 1904. The Le Conte Glacier, Le Conte Canyon, Le Conte Divide, Le Conte Falls, Le Conte Mountain and Mount Le Conte were named after him. LeConte Hall, which houses the Department of History at the University of Georgia, was named for him and his brother. LeConte College, which houses the Department of Mathematics and Statistics near the Horseshoe at the University of South Carolina, Le Conte Middle School