Josiah Parsons Cooke | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | October 12, 1827 |
| Died | September 3, 1894 (aged 66) |
| Resting place | Mount Auburn Cemetery |
| Education |
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| Occupations | |
| Spouse |
Mary H. Huntington (m. 1860) |
| Known for | Measurement of atomic weights |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Chemistry |
| Institutions | Harvard University |
| 12th president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences | |
| In office 1892–1894 | |
| Preceded by | Joseph Lovering |
| Succeeded by | Alexander Agassiz |
Josiah Parsons Cooke (October 12, 1827 – September 3, 1894) was an American chemist who worked at Harvard University and was instrumental in the measurement of atomic weights, inspiring America's first Nobel laureate in chemistry, Theodore William Richards, to pursue similar research. Cooke's 1854 paper on atomic weights has been said to foreshadow the periodic law developed later by Mendeleev and others.[1] Historian I. Bernard Cohen described Cooke "as the first university chemist to do truly distinguished work in the field of chemistry" in the United States.[2]
- ^ Jackson, Charles L. (1902). "Memoir of Josiah Parsons Cooke". Biographical Memoirs. 4. National Academy of Sciences: 175–183.
- ^ Cohen, I. Bernard (1959). "Some Reflections on the State of Science in America During the Nineteenth Century". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 45 (5): 666–677. Bibcode:1959PNAS...45..666C. doi:10.1073/pnas.45.5.666. PMC 222615.