Bunsen Peak el. 8527 feet (2,599 m) is a prominent peak due south of Mammoth Hot Springs

Mammoth Hot Springs

Mammoth Hot Springs is a large complex of hot springs on a hill of travertine in Yellowstone National Park adjacent to Fort Yellowstone and the Mammoth Hot Springs Historic District. It was created over thousands of years as hot water from the spring cooled and deposited calcium carbonate...

 in Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park, established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872, is a national park located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, although it also extends into Montana and Idaho...

, Wyoming. The peak lies on the east flank of Kingman Pass

Kingman Pass

Kingman Pass el. is a mountain pass between Terrance Mountain and Bunsen Peak on the Grand Loop Road , just south of Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park. The pass is named for Lieutenant Dan Christie Kingman of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Kingman rebuilt this difficult portion...

 on the Mammoth to Norris section of the Grand Loop Road

Grand Loop Road Historic District

The Grand Loop Road Historic District encompasses the primary road system in Yellowstone National Park. Much of the system was originally planned by Captain Hiram M. Chittenden of the US Army Corps of Engineers in the early days of the park, when it was under military administration...

. The peak was first ascended by Ferdinand V. Hayden

Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden

Dr. Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden was an American geologist noted for his pioneering surveying expeditions of the Rocky Mountains in the late 19th century. He was also a physician who served with the Union Army during the Civil War.-Early life:Ferdinand Hayden was born in Westfield, Massachusetts...

 and Captain John W. Barlow

John W. Barlow

John Whitney Barlow was a career officer in the United States Army. During and after the American Civil War, he was noted for his engineering talents.-Biography:...

 in 1871, Bunsen Peak was not named until 1872 during the second Hayden Geologic Survey. E. S. Topping named the peak Observation Mountain in 1872 as well, but that name did not stick. The Bunsen Peak Trail with its trailhead just south of Mammoth is a steep 2.1 miles (3.4 km) to the summit. Bunsen Peak was named for the German chemist Robert Bunsen

Robert Bunsen

Robert Wilhelm Eberhard Bunsen was a German chemist. He investigated emission spectra of heated elements, and discovered caesium and rubidium with Gustav Kirchhoff. Bunsen developed several gas-analytical methods, was a pioneer in photochemistry, and did early work in the field of organoarsenic...

, the inventor of the Bunsen Burner

Bunsen burner

A Bunsen burner, named after Robert Bunsen, is a common piece of laboratory equipment that produces a single open gas flame, which is used for heating, sterilization, and combustion.- Operation:...

 and responsible for early work on volcanic geyser theories.