A mountain peak 3 miles southwest of Silverton has been named for a famed mathematician who was born and educated in Colorado.
The U.S. Board of Geographic Names on Friday designated the 13,087-foot-high peak in the San Juan National Forest as Spencer Peak for Donald Clayton Spencer, the recipient of the 1989 National Medal of Science.
In Durango, Spencer was active in Taxpayers for the Animas River, a local group that after a long and often-bitter battle forced the downsizing of the Animas-La Plata water-diversion project. Earlier in his career, Spencer was the 1948 recipient of the prestigious Bocher Prize from the American Mathematical Society. Only 20 Bocher Prizes have been awarded since 1924.
Spencer, who was born in Boulder, died in Durango at 89 on Dec. 23, 2001.
The peak named in Spencer’s honor is accessible by the Colorado Trail, the hiking trail that intersects Colorado from north to south along the spine of the Rockies at the Continental Divide. It is south of Silverton and west of U.S. 550.
