John Addison Porter
Encyclopedia
John Addison Porter was an American
Professor
of Chemistry
. He was born in Catskill
, New York
and died in New Haven
, Connecticut
. He, along with William Kingsley, publisher of The New Englander, and eleven others, founded the senior or secret society Scroll and Key
and incorporated the Kingsley Trust Association at Yale University
in 1841.
in 1842 and moved to Philadelphia for further study. In 1844 he became a professor at Delaware College and remained there until 1847 when he moved to Germany
to study at the University of Giessen
under Justus von Liebig
.
In 1850 he returned to the United States
and became a professor at Brown University
. He left in 1852 to take the place of the retiring Professor John Pitkin Norton
at Sheffield Scientific School
(then Yale Scientific School). He was the Professor of Analytical and Agricultural Chemistry from 1852 to 1856, and Professor of Organic Chemistry from 1856-1864. He remained at Yale until he had to resign for health reasons in 1864, two years before his death. In 1872 the Kingsley Trust endowed at Yale a prize in his honor to be given annually.
One of their sons was another John Addison Porter
, who became the first person to hold the title "Secretary to the President" , when he served in that capacity to William McKinley
.
Porter was the first person to translate any part of the Finnish
national epic Kalevala
into English
using the German
translation by Franz Anton Schiefner
(the same version used by John Martin Crawford
for his complete 1888 translation).
This prize not to be confused with the lesser prize named for his son and restricted to undergraduate history majors at Yale.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of Chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
. He was born in Catskill
Catskill (town), New York
Catskill is a town in the southeast part of Greene County, New York, United States. The population was 11,775 at the 2010 census. The western part of the town is in the Catskill Park....
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and died in New Haven
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
. He, along with William Kingsley, publisher of The New Englander, and eleven others, founded the senior or secret society Scroll and Key
Scroll and Key
The Scroll and Key Society is a secret society, founded in 1842 at Yale University, in New Haven, Connecticut. It is the wealthiest and second oldest Yale secret society...
and incorporated the Kingsley Trust Association at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
in 1841.
Academic life
Porter graduated from Yale CollegeYALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
in 1842 and moved to Philadelphia for further study. In 1844 he became a professor at Delaware College and remained there until 1847 when he moved to Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
to study at the University of Giessen
University of Giessen
The University of Giessen is officially called the Justus Liebig University Giessen after its most famous faculty member, Justus von Liebig, the founder of modern agricultural chemistry and inventor of artificial fertiliser.-History:The University of Gießen is among the oldest institutions of...
under Justus von Liebig
Justus von Liebig
Justus von Liebig was a German chemist who made major contributions to agricultural and biological chemistry, and worked on the organization of organic chemistry. As a professor, he devised the modern laboratory-oriented teaching method, and for such innovations, he is regarded as one of the...
.
In 1850 he returned to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and became a professor at Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
. He left in 1852 to take the place of the retiring Professor John Pitkin Norton
John Pitkin Norton
John Pitkin Norton was a noted educator, agricultural chemist, and author. He was born in Albany, New York....
at Sheffield Scientific School
Sheffield Scientific School
Sheffield Scientific School was founded in 1847 as a school of Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut for instruction in science and engineering. Originally named the Yale Scientific School, it was renamed in 1861 in honor of Joseph E. Sheffield, the railroad executive. The school was...
(then Yale Scientific School). He was the Professor of Analytical and Agricultural Chemistry from 1852 to 1856, and Professor of Organic Chemistry from 1856-1864. He remained at Yale until he had to resign for health reasons in 1864, two years before his death. In 1872 the Kingsley Trust endowed at Yale a prize in his honor to be given annually.
Personal life
In 1855 he married Josephine Earl Sheffield, daughter of Joseph E. Sheffield, whose name adorned the school where he was professor for 12 years.One of their sons was another John Addison Porter
John Addison Porter (Secretary to the President)
John Addison Porter was an American journalist, and the first person to hold the position of "Secretary to the President"....
, who became the first person to hold the title "Secretary to the President" , when he served in that capacity to William McKinley
William McKinley
William McKinley, Jr. was the 25th President of the United States . He is best known for winning fiercely fought elections, while supporting the gold standard and high tariffs; he succeeded in forging a Republican coalition that for the most part dominated national politics until the 1930s...
.
Literary works
- First book of chemistry and allied sciences. 1857
- Principles of chemistry. 1857, 1860, 1864, 1868
- First book of science. 1858
- Outlines of the first course of Yale agricultural lectures. 1860
- Selections from the Kalevala, the Great Finnish Epic. 1868
Porter was the first person to translate any part of the Finnish
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
national epic Kalevala
Kalevala
The Kalevala is a 19th century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Finnish and Karelian oral folklore and mythology.It is regarded as the national epic of Finland and is one of the most significant works of Finnish literature...
into English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
using the German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
translation by Franz Anton Schiefner
Franz Anton Schiefner
Franz Anton Schiefner was a Baltic German linguist and tibetologist.Schiefner was born to a German-speaking family in Reval , Estonia, then part of Russian Empire. His father was a merchant who had emigrated from Bohemia...
(the same version used by John Martin Crawford
John Martin Crawford (scholar)
John Martin Crawford was an American physician and scholar who translated the Finnish epic Kalevala into English based on a previous German translation by Franz Anton Schiefner published in 1852, to be published for the first time in 1888....
for his complete 1888 translation).
John Addison Porter Prize
The John Addison Porter Prize is a prize at Yale University awarded annually to the best work of scholarship in any field "where it is possible, through original effort, to gather and relate facts or principles, or both, and to present the results in such a literary form as to make the product of general human interest." Distinct from the undergraduate prize for history majors (see below), this prize is among the highest awards the university confers. The prize was established in 1872 in honor of Professor John Addison Porter, B.A. 1842., and perpetuated with a subsequent gift in 1901. Winners of the John Addison Porter Prize over the years have included:- 1872: Charles Joseph Hardy Ropes
- 1873: Not awarded.
- 1874: Henry Martin Ladd
- 1875: Charles Whittlesey Guernsey
- 1876: Thomas Rutherford BaconThomas Rutherford BaconThomas Rutherford Bacon was an American Congregational clergyman, and a professor of history at the University of California.-Biography:...
- 1877: Myron Henry Phelps
- 1878: Henry Ammon James
- 1879: Edward Denmore Robbins
- 1880: Edwin Burpee Goodell
- 1881: Not awarded.
- 1882: Thomas Robert Morrow
- 1883: John Wurts
- 1884: Thorstein B. VeblenThorstein VeblenThorstein Bunde Veblen, born Torsten Bunde Veblen was an American economist and sociologist, and a leader of the so-called institutional economics movement...
- 1885: Frank StrongFrank StrongFrank Strong was the sixth Chancellor of the University of Kansas from 1902 to 1920. He was a graduate of Yale University , where he received the John Addison Porter Prize and was lecturer in United States history from 1897-1899. Subsequently president of the University of Oregon from 1899 to 1902,...
- 1886: Sherman Day ThacherSherman Day ThacherSherman Day Thacher, , was the founder and headmaster of the Thacher School at Ojai, California. A graduate of Hopkins Grammar School, he attended Yale University and won second prize in English composition his Sophomore year; oration appointment Junior year; dissertation appointment Senior year;...
- 1887: Edward Mortimer Chapman
- 1888: James Hayden TuftsJames Hayden TuftsJames Hayden Tufts , an influential American philosopher, was a professor of the then newly founded Chicago University. Tufts was also a member of the Board of Arbitration, and the chairman of a committee of the social agencies of Chicago. The work Ethics in 1908 was a collaboration of Tufts and...
- 1889: Edward Grant Buckland
- 1890: Gerald H. Beard
- 1891: Ray Burdick Smith
- 1892: Not awarded.
- 1893: Julian Ingersoll Chamberlain
- 1894: Clive DayClive DayClive Hart Day was an American college professor and writer on economics history, born at Hartford, Conn. He was chief of the Balkan Division of the American Commission to Negotiate Peace ....
- 1895: William Frederick Foster
- 1896: Winthrop Edwards Dwight
- 1897: Francis Parsons
- 1898: Samuel Peterson
- 1899: Nathan Ayer Smyth
- 1900: Herbert Wescott Fisher
- 1901: Not awarded.
- 1902: Edward Andrew Braniff
- 1903: Richard WebbRichard WebbRichard Webb may refer to:*Richard D. Webb , Irish publisher and abolitionist*Sir Richard Webb , British admiral*Richard Webb , American film, television and radio actor...
- 1904: Not awarded.
- 1905: Stanleigh Arnold
- 1906: Thomas D. ThacherThomas D. ThacherThomas Day Thacher was a lawyer and judge in New York City.Thacher was born in Tenafly, New Jersey and was the oldest of four children of Thomas Thacher, a prominent New York lawyer, and Sarah McCulloh Thacher...
- 1907: Charles Franklin
- 1908: Alfred Arundel May
- 1909: Not awarded.
- 1910: William Smith CulbertsonWilliam Smith CulbertsonWilliam Smith Culbertson was an American diplomat and soldier.He was born in Greensburg, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, August 5, 1884 and died in 1966. U.S. Ambassador, Romania, 1925–1928, Chile, 1928 - 1933. Colonel, United States Army. President, United States Tariff Commission 1922 - 1925...
- 1911: Jack Randall Crawford
- 1912: Not awarded.
- 1913: William Alexander Robinson
- 1914: Philip Barrows Whitehead
- 1915: Percy Wells Bidwell
- 1916: Richard J. Purcell
- 1917: Thomas Goddard Wright
- 1918: Lawrence H. GipsonLawrence H. GipsonLawrence Henry Gipson was an American historian, who won the 1950 Bancroft Prize and the 1962 Pulitzer Prize for History...
- 1919: Not awarded.
- 1920: Marjorie Hope NicolsonMarjorie Hope NicolsonMarjorie Hope Nicolson , was born February 18, 1894 in Yonkers, New York, USA, the daughter of Charles Butler Nicolson, editor-in-chief of the Detroit Free Press during World War I and later that paper's correspondent in Washington, DC, and Lissie Hope Morris.She graduated from the University of...
- 1921: George Stewart
- 1922: Not awarded.
- 1923: Dumas MaloneDumas MaloneDumas Malone was an American historian, biographer, and editor noted for his six-volume biography on Thomas Jefferson, for which he received the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for history...
- 1924: Not awarded.
- 1925: Frederick Albert Pottle
- 1926: William Clyde DeVane
- 1927: Not awarded.
- 1928: George Herbert Ryden
- 1929: Stanley Pargellis
- 1930: Not awarded.
- 1931: Harry R. Rudin
- 1932: Roger Franklin Murray
- 1933: George Wilson PiersonGeorge Wilson PiersonGeorge Wilson Pierson was an American academic, historian, author and Larned Professor of History at Yale University. He was the first official historian of the university.-Family life:...
- 1934: Charles Roy Keller
- 1935: Joseph Lee Walsh
- 1936: William B. WillcoxWilliam B. WillcoxWilliam Bradford Willcox was an American historian. He received his B.A. from Cornell University in 1928, a B.F.A. from Yale University in 1932, and his Ph.D...
- 1937: Helen Whitcomb Randall
- 1938: Arthur Eugene BestorArthur BestorArthur Eugene Bestor, Jr. was an American historian.Bestor was born in Chautauqua, New York, the eldest son of Arthur E. Bestor and Jeannette Lemon. Arthur E...
- 1939: Monroe Curtis Beardsley
- 1940: Liston Pope
- 1941: Eric Russell Bentley
- 1942: George Harry Ford
- 1943: John James Brown
- 1944: Lawrence Sidney Willson
- 1945: William Alvord Borst
- 1946: William Frost
- 1947: Richard D. EllmannRichard EllmannRichard David Ellmann was a prominent American literary critic and biographer of the Irish writers James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, and William Butler Yeats...
- 1948: William Henry Jordy
- 1949: Pier-Maria Pasinetti
- 1950: William Hugh Kenner
- 1951: Robert Hugh FerrellRobert H. FerrellRobert H. Ferrell is an American historian and author of several books on Harry S. Truman and the diplomatic history of the United States. He served in the U.S. Army Air Forces during the Second World War and was an intelligence analyst in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War. He received a B.S...
- 1952: Aubrey Lake Williams
- 1953: Charles Frederick Rudolph, Jr.
- 1954: Otis Arnold Pease
- 1955: George Stephen Carnett
- 1956: Harold BloomHarold BloomHarold Bloom is an American writer and literary critic, and is Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. He is known for his defense of 19th-century Romantic poets, his unique and controversial theories of poetic influence, and his prodigious literary output, particularly for a literary...
- 1957: William H. GoetzmannWilliam H. GoetzmannWilliam H. Goetzmann was an award-winning historian and emeritus professor in the American Studies and American Civilization Programs at the University of Texas at Austin. He attended Yale University as a graduate student and was friends with Tom Wolfe while there...
- 1958: Francis De Tarr
- 1959: Béla Alexander BalassaBéla BalassaBéla Balassa was a Hungarian economist and world-renowned professor at Johns Hopkins University; most famous for his work on the relationship between purchasing power parity and cross-country productivity differences .Balassa received a law degree from the University of Budapest...
- 1960: George Siemers Fayen, Jr.
- 1961: David Gordon
- 1962: Ajodhia Nath Kaul
- 1963: Norma Doris Evenson
- 1964: Allan Ira Ludwig
- 1965: Jonathan D. Spence
- 1966: Michael Jerome Kevin O'Loughlin
- 1967: Edward Murray Peters
- 1968: Robert Laurence Moore
- 1969:
- 1970:
- 1971:
- 1972: Frank M. Turner
- 1973:
- 1974: Joan Shelley Rubin
- 1975:
- 1976: Stephen Holmes
- 1977:
- 1978:
- 1979:
- 1980:
- 1981: Florencia Elizabeth Mallon
- 1982:
- 1983:
- 1984:
- 1985:
- 1986:
- 1987: Candace Waid
- 1988:
- 1989: Jonathan Hay
- 1990:
- 1991: Jon E. Lendon
- 1992: Craig Williams
- 1993: James ShulmanJames ShulmanJames Shulman is ARTstor's President. During his nine years at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation before joining ARTstor, he participated in the construction of large databases, wrote about educational policy issues and the missions of not-for-profit institutions, and worked in a range of research,...
- 1994: Robert Pierce ForbesRobert Pierce ForbesRobert Pierce Forbes is an American historian specializing in the politics and culture of the early American Republic, and the impact of slavery on the development of American institutions and modern society.-Life:...
- 1995:
- 1996:
- 1997:
- 1998: Karl H. Jacoby & Jennifer Price
- 1999: Blair Gerald Hoxby
- 2000: Michael Rubin & Salim Yaqub
- 2001: Peter SilverPeter Silver-Life:He was raised in Richmond, Indiana.He graduated from Harvard College, magna cum laude, and from Yale University, with an MA and Ph.D. in 2001.He taught at Princeton University, where he held the Richard Allen Lester University Preceptorship....
& Jeremi Suri - 2002: Josiah Osgood
- 2003: Mark Oppenheimer & Lucy Chester
- 2004: Jonathan Reed WinklerJonathan Reed WinklerJonathan Reed Winkler is a historian and an associate professor of history at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. He teaches and researches on U.S. foreign relations, U.S. military and naval history, international history, security studies and strategic thought...
& Erez Manela - 2005: Aaron Sachs
- 2006: Leslie A. Ryan & Adam J. Robinson
- 2007: Elizabeth Levy Paluck & Stephen Vella
- 2008: Elizabeth N. Saunders & Siddhartha Das
- 2009: Hal Brands & Wendy Warren
- 2010: Allison Carey & Kirsten Weld
- 2011: Sarah Cameron, Rui Gao
This prize not to be confused with the lesser prize named for his son and restricted to undergraduate history majors at Yale.
External links
- Yale university prizes. History
- Article from New Englander and Yale review. (Volume 27, Issue 103) On Porters early translation of parts of the Finnish epic, Kalevala