A Professor, a President, and a
Meteor, a book by Cathryn J.
Prince, is a biography
of Benjamin
Silliman. Silliman helped to establish the United States
as a scientific
leader.
Silliman was part of the post-Revolutionary generation. His father, Gold
Selleck Silliman, was a general in the Continental
Army. Benjamin Silliman had hoped to make a name for himself in the law, but was
persuaded by a family
friend to pursue science, though it was not a career likely to lead to
prominence in America.
American science was not well regarded in those days, especially in Europe. A falling
star, and Silliman’s diligent and careful study, changed that.
In 1807,
a large meteor
fell over Weston,
Connecticut.
Silliman, a very young, new professor of chemistry at Yale, and his
colleague James
Kingsley, went as quickly as they could to the remote community. The carefully
interviewed witnesses, surveyed the location of meteorites, and collected
samples. Silliman took samples back to New Haven
to analyze them in his lab.
Silliman helped to establish that meteors originated in outer space.
Popular theories at the time were that they came for lunar or terrestrial
volcanoes or somehow formed in the atmosphere. The notion that something from
outer space could fall to Earth was radical.
Silliman other contributions to American science were his work as a
popularizer and mentor. He was an able teacher and able to communicate science
to a broad audience. His public lectures on science around the country were
very popular. He also helped to train a generation of American scientists. At
the beginning of his career, he had to go to Europe to study chemistry and geology, at the
end of his career and budding scientist could be educated in the U.S.
Silliman’s ability to reach the people of his day was his devotion to
his Christian
faith. He saw no serious conflict between his religion
and his science. He was able to stay out of debates with clergymen that would
have brought opposition to his scientific views.
In spite of the title, I found little reason to drag the president into
it. Thomas
Jefferson was in office at the time of the Weston Fall. Silliman, like
other New
England Federalists,
had little liking for his policies, nor did Jefferson much care for his
adversaries in the region. In addition, the president did not highly esteem
geology or astronomy,
instead preferring biological
sciences that he considered to have more practical application. Prince
brings up these difference in the book, but they never seem to add up to a
serious conflict between Silliman and Jefferson.
Prince, Cathryn J. A Professor, a President, and a Meteor: The
Birth of American Science. Amherst, NY:
Prometheus
Books, 2011.
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