Edward Bennett Rosa was an American physicist, specialising in measurement science.

He received B.S. at Wesleyan University

Wesleyan University

Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...

 (1886) and taught physics at a school in Providence, Rhode Island

Providence, Rhode Island

Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...

 before graduate studies in physics at Johns Hopkins University

Johns Hopkins University

The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...

, obtaining a Ph.D.

Ph.D.

A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

 in 1891 on the thesis entitled The Specific Inductive Capacity of Electrolytes, advised by Henry Augustus Rowland

Henry Augustus Rowland

Henry Augustus Rowland was a U.S. physicist. Between 1899 and 1901 he served as the first president of the American Physical Society...

.
After a short stay at University of Wisconsin (1890) he was professor of physics at
Wesleyan University

Wesleyan University

Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...

 (1891–1901) where he and Wilbur Olin Atwater

Wilbur Olin Atwater

Wilbur Olin Atwater was an American chemist known for his studies of human nutrition and metabolism....

 developed a
respiration calorimeter which for human beings confirmed conservation of energy

Conservation of energy

The nineteenth century law of conservation of energy is a law of physics. It states that the total amount of energy in an isolated system remains constant over time. The total energy is said to be conserved over time...

 laws and allowed for calculation of caloric values of different foods. He also made an early
curve tracer for alternating currents. He then joined as head of the electrical research division at
National Bureau of Standards (1901) where he,
Noah Ernest Dorsey

Noah Ernest Dorsey

Noah Ernest Dorsey was an American physicist, known for his contributions to measurement technology.He was born in Annapolis, Maryland and studied at Johns Hopkins University where he obtained a B.A. and a Ph.D. . He worked at the same place a few years, was with U. S...

 and Frederick Grover

Frederick Grover

Frederick Warren Grover was an American physicist and electrical engineer.Grover worked as a physicist at the National Bureau of Standards, and he went to study with Arnold Sommerfeld at the Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich in 1907...

, developed a variety of measurement devices. With
George Wood Vinal he made an amperemeter based on a silver voltameter

Voltameter

A Voltameter is a scientific instrument used for measuring quantity of electricity. It should not be confused with a voltmeter which measures electric potential...

.
He also headed the Safety Code division that defined the National Electrical Code. Rosa died while at work.

Awards

• Elliott Cresson Medal
  Elliott Cresson Medal
  The Elliott Cresson Medal, also known as the Elliott Cresson Gold Medal, was the highest award given by the Franklin Institute. The award was established by Elliott Cresson, life member of the Franklin Institute, with $1,000 granted in 1848...
  
   of the Franklin Institute
  Franklin Institute
  The Franklin Institute is a museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and one of the oldest centers of science education and development in the United States, dating to 1824. The Institute also houses the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial.-History:On February 5, 1824, Samuel Vaughn Merrick and...
  
   1898 for the respiration calorimeter
• Fellow of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers
  American Institute of Electrical Engineers
  The American Institute of Electrical Engineers was a United States based organization of electrical engineers that existed between 1884 and 1963, when it merged with the Institute of Radio Engineers to form the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers .- History :The 1884 founders of the...
  
   and American Physical Society
  American Physical Society
  The American Physical Society is the world's second largest organization of physicists, behind the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. The Society publishes more than a dozen scientific journals, including the world renowned Physical Review and Physical Review Letters, and organizes more than 20...
  
  
• Elected to the National Academy of Sciences
  United States National Academy of Sciences
  The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
  
   1913
• The E. B. Rosa Award is offered by National Institute of Standards and Technology
  National Institute of Standards and Technology
  The National Institute of Standards and Technology , known between 1901 and 1988 as the National Bureau of Standards , is a measurement standards laboratory, otherwise known as a National Metrological Institute , which is a non-regulatory agency of the United States Department of Commerce...
  
  .