John Wesley Powell was born on March 24, 1834, in Mount Morris, New York.

He was an American geologist, explorer, ethnologist, and educator. He studied at Illinois and Oberlin College but was unable to attain his degree. During his studies, Powell acquired knowledge of Ancient Greek and Latin. He had a restless nature and a deep interest in the natural sciences. In 1855, he spent four months walking across Wisconsin and in 1856, he rowed the Mississippi River from St. Anthony, Minnesota, to the sea. In 1859, he was elected to the Illinois Natural History Society. In 1861, he enlisted in the Union Army as a cartographer, topographer, and military engineer. He lost his arm at the Battle of Shiloh. In 1865, he became Professor of Geology at the Illinois Wesleyan University at Bloomington, and he lectured at Illinois State Normal University. Powell helped expand the collections of the Museum of the Illinois State Natural History Society, where he served as curator. After 1867, he led a series of expeditions into the Rocky Mountains and around the Green and Colorado rivers. In 1881, Powell was appointed the director of the U.S. Geological Survey, a post he held until his resignation in 1894. In 1879, he became the director of the Bureau of Ethnology at the Smithsonian Institution and remained there until his death. He served as president of the Philosophical Society of Washington (1884) and president of the Anthropological Society of Washington (1879-1888). He received an honorary Ph.D. from the University of Heidelberg (1886) and honorary LL.D. from Harvard University (1886).

In 1861, he married Emma Dean (1836–1924). He died on September 23, 1902, in Haven Colony, Brooklin, Maine, and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia.