Amos Eaton

Amos Eaton
Born(1776-05-17)May 17, 1776
DiedMay 10, 1842(1842-05-10) (aged 66)
NationalityAmerican
Alma materWilliams College
Known for
Spouses
Polly Thomas
(m. 1799; died 1803)
[1]: p. 195 
Sally Cady
(m. 1803; died 1816)
[1]: p. 196 
Anna Bradley
(m. 1816; died 1826)
[1]: p. 198 
Alice Johnson
(m. 1827)
[1]: p. 226 
ChildrenTwelve[1]
Scientific career
Fields
InstitutionsWilliams College
Castleton Medical College
Rensselaer School
Author abbrev. (botany)Eaton
Signature

Amos Eaton (May 17, 1776 – May 10, 1842) was an American botanist, geologist, and educator who is considered the founder of the modern scientific prospectus in education, which was a radical departure from the American liberal arts tradition of classics, theology, lecture, and recitation.[2][3] Eaton co-founded the Rensselaer School in 1824 with Stephen van Rensselaer III "in the application of science to the common purposes of life".[3][4] His books in the eighteenth century were among the first published for which a systematic treatment of the United States was attempted, and in a language that all could read.[5] His teaching laboratory for botany in the 1820s was the first of its kind in the country.[6][7][8][9] Eaton's popular lectures and writings inspired numerous thinkers, in particular women, whom he encouraged to attend his public talks on experimental philosophy.[10] Emma Willard would found the Troy Female Seminary (Emma Willard School), and Mary Mason Lyon, the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (Mount Holyoke College). Eaton held the rank of senior professor at Rensselaer until his death in 1842.[10][11]

  1. ^ a b c d e Ballard, Harlan Hoge (1897). Amos Eaton. Pittsfield, Massachusetts: Press of the Sun Printing Company. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
  2. ^ Reynolds, Terry S. (1992). "The Education of Engineers in America before the Morrill Act of 1862". History of Education Quarterly. 32 (4): 459–482. doi:10.2307/368959. JSTOR 368959. S2CID 143767294.
  3. ^ a b Gillett, Margaret (1962). "Discovery of an Unlost Letter: The Beginning of an Epoch in American Higher Education". Journal of Higher Education. 33 (4). Ohio State University Press: 200–206. doi:10.2307/1978187. JSTOR 1978187.
  4. ^ Ricketts, Palmer C. (1914). History of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: 1824-1914. New York: J. Wiley & Sons. Retrieved February 27, 2014.
  5. ^ Youmans, William Jay (1896). Pioneers of Science in America: Sketches of Their Lives and Scientific Work. New York: D. Appleton and Company. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
  6. ^ Smallwood, William Martin (1937). "Amos Eaton, Naturalist". New York History. 18 (2): 167–188. JSTOR 23134798.
  7. ^ Good, H. G. (1941). "Amos Eaton (1776-1842)". Scientific Monthly. 53: 464–469.
  8. ^ McAllister, E. M. (1941). Amos Eaton: Scientist and Educator (1776-1842). Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.
  9. ^ Rezneck, S. (1971). In Charles Coulston Gillispie [ed.], Dictionary of Scientific Biography, volume 4. NY: Scribner & Sons.
  10. ^ a b Rudolph, Emanuel (1996). "History of the Botanical Teaching Laboratory in the United States". American Journal of Botany. 83 (5): 661–671. doi:10.2307/2445926. JSTOR 2445926.
  11. ^ Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1887). Biographical Record of the Officers and Graduates of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1824-1886. Troy, NY: W.H. Young. Retrieved March 3, 2014.