Amos Eaton (1776-1842)

Amos Eaton (May 17, 1776 – 1842) was a scientist and educator in the Troy, NY area in the early 19th century. Amos Eaton This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... May 17 is the 137th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (138th in leap years). ... This article is about the year 1776. ... 1842 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Troy is a city in New York and the county seat of Rensselaer County. ...

Eaton attended Williams College; after graduating in 1799 he studied law in New York City and was admitted to the state bar in 1802. He practiced law in Catskill, New York until 1811 Eaton, when he was jailed on trumped up charges of forgery. He spent nearly five years in prison, where he studied botany and geology and tutored the sons of the board of governors of the prison. On his release spent a year at Yale College studying botany, chemistry and minerology under Benjamin Silliman and Eli Ives. He then returned to Williams College, where he lectured on zoology, botany and geology and published a botonical dictionary. Williams College is a private, coeducational, highly selective (18% admission rate in 2006) liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts. ... Nickname: Big Apple Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs Bronx (The Bronx) New York (Manhattan) Queens (Queens) Kings (Brooklyn) Richmond (Staten Island) Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area    - City 1,214. ... Catskill can refer to either: The Catskill Mountains in New York State The Village of Catskill, New York The Town of Catskill, New York This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Yale redirects here. ... Benjamin Silliman. ...

He returned to New York state in 1817 where DeWitt Clinton arranged for him to deliver a series of lectures to the New York State Legislature on the state's geology in connection with the building of the Erie Canal. Among the legislators who heard these lectures was Stephen Van Rensselaer III, Patroon of Rensselaerwyck, who, in 1820, hired him to produce A geological Survey of the County of Albany, which was followed by geological surveys of much of the area through which the canal was built. Ultimately, Eaton would complete a survey of a section fifty miles wide from Buffalo to Boston. DeWitt Clinton Clinton Memorial at Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn NY DeWitt Clinton (March 2, 1769 – February 11, 1828) was an early American politician. ... The Erie Canal (currently part of the New York State Canal System) is a canal in New York State, United States, that runs from the Hudson River to Lake Erie, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. ... Stephen Van Rensselaer III (November 1, 1764–January 26, 1839) was an American statesman, soldier, and land-owner, the heir to one of the greatest estates in the New York region at the time. ... Rensselaerwyck is the name of a colonial estate that was located in what is now New York, USA. The estate was land purchased by Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, a Dutch merchant and investor in the Dutch West India Company. ...

In 1824, with Rensselaer's assistance, he co-founded The Rensselaer School (now known as Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) "for the purpose of instructing persons, who may choose to apply themselves, in the application of science to the common purposes of life". Eaton served as Senior Professor at The Rensselaer School until the time of his death in 1842. Under his leadership, Troy, New York rivaled London, England as a center for geological studies in the first part of the 19th Century. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, or RPI, is a coeducational private university in Troy, New York, near Albany, founded in 1824 by Stephen Van Rensselaer. ... London (pronounced ) is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Government Constitutional monarchy  - Queen Queen Elizabeth II  - Prime Minister Tony Blair MP Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Eaton's influence at RPI is still visible in several areas: The mathematics department is housed in Amos Eaton Hall; The Amos Eaton Professorship is a named professorship at RPI (currently occupied by Dr. Joseph Flaherty); The Amos Eaton Chair is a chair originally given to Amos Eaton by the RPI students in 1839, and later donated back to RPI by Eaton's family, and is now used by the RPI President during formal events; Amos Eaton was inducted into RPI's hall of fame in the inaugural class of 1998. Amos Eaton Hall is the current home of the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. It is named for Amos Eaton, the co-founder and first senior professor of Rensselaer. ... 1839 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Indiana. ...

Eaton's students

• James Eights — Antarctic explorer.
• James Hall — First New York State Geologist.
• Joseph Henry — Developed Electromagnetism.
• John Torrey — botanist.

James Eights (1798 - 1882) was an American physician, scientist, and artist. ... For other articles with similar names, see Antarctica (disambiguation). ... James Hall (September 12, 1811 - 1898) was an American natural scientist born in Hingham, Massachusetts. ... Joseph Henry Joseph Henry (December 17, 1797 – May 13, 1878) was an American scientist. ... Electromagnetism is the force observed as static electricity, and causes the flow of electric charge (electric current) in electrical conductors. ... John Torrey (August 15, 1796 - March 10, 1873) was an American botanist. ...

External links

• The Amos Eaton Exhibit-Biography.