John Addison Porter

John Addison Porter

carbon print of John Addison Porter
Born March 15, 1822 (1822-03-15) (age 189)
Catskill, New York
Died August 25, 1866(1866-08-25) (aged 44)
New Haven, Connecticut
Alma mater Yale College
Occupation Professor
Spouse Josephine Earl Sheffield
Children John Addison Porter, Jr.; Edgar Sheffield Porter
Parents Addison Porter and Anne Hogeboom
Relatives father-in-law Joseph Earl Sheffield

John Addison Porter (March 15, 1822 - August 25, 1866) was an American Professor of Chemistry. He was born in Catskill, New York and died in New Haven, Connecticut.[1] 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.

Contents

Academic life

Porter graduated from Yale College 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.[1]

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.[2] He remained at Yale until he had to resign for health reasons in 1864, two years before his death.[1] 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,[1] whose name adorned the school where he was professor for 12 years.

One of their sons was another John Addison Porter, who became the first person to hold the title "Secretary to the President",[3] when he served in that capacity to William McKinley.

Works and Achievements

Literary works

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).

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."[4] 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:

This prize not to be confused with the lesser prize named for his son and restricted to undergraduate history majors at Yale.

References

  1. ^ a b c d Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University, Yale University, 1866-7, New Haven, p. 246.
  2. ^ Historical Register of Yale University, 1701-1937 (New Haven: Yale University, 1939), p. 434.
  3. ^ "J. ADDISON PORTER DEAD.; Was Secretary to President McKinley Until Failing Health Caused I Him to Resign.". NYT. 1900-12-16. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F00E4D7143DE433A25755C1A9649D946197D6CF. Retrieved 2008-05-12. 
  4. ^ "Porter Prize". Yale University. http://www.yale.edu/secretary/prizes/porter/. Retrieved 2009-03-16. 
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be bf bg bh bi bj bk bl bm Historical Register of Yale University, 1701-1937 (New Haven: Yale University, 1939), pp. 125-127.
  6. ^ Ladd, Henry Martin (1875). An Essay on the Madonna in Christian Art. New Haven: Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor. 
  7. ^ James, Henry Ammon (1879). Communism in America. New York: Henry Holt & Co.. ISBN 0405099576. 
  8. ^ "Yale's Closing Exercises: The Speaking Degrees, and Honors -- A Notable Alumni Dinner". New York Times. June 30, 1881. 
  9. ^ "Close of College Days". New York Times. June 24, 1884. 
  10. ^ Catalogue of Yale University CXCI Year, 1890-1891. New Haven: Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor. 1890. 
  11. ^ Catalogue of Yale University 1908-09. New Haven: Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor. 1908. 
  12. ^ Culbertson, William Smith (1911). Alexander Hamilton: an essay. New Haven: Yale University Press. 
  13. ^ "Taft Commends Trust Decisions". New York Times. June 22, 1911. 
  14. ^ Bulletin of the Archaeological Institute of America, vol. V (December 1914). New York: The MacMillan Company. 1914. 
  15. ^ The Michigan Alumnus, Volume XXVI (October 1919-August 1920). Ann Arbor, MI: The Alumni Association of the University of Michigan. 1920. 
  16. ^ Germans in the Cameroons, 1884-1914, A Case Study in Modern Imperialism. New Haven: Yale University Press. 1938. 
  17. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Historical Register of Yale University, 1937-1951 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1952), p. 80.
  18. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Historical Register of Yale University, 1951-1968 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1969), pp. 96-97.
  19. ^ "Literary critic Harold Bloom awarded Gold Medal by the American Academy of Arts and Letters". Yale Bulletin and Calendar. 27:34 (1999). 
  20. ^ The Pale Cast of Thought: Hesitation and Decision in the Renaissance Epic. Cranbury, NJ: Associated University Presses. 1998. 
  21. ^ "Other Student Awards and Honors". Yale Bulletin and Calendar. 1999. 
  22. ^ "Graduate Student Awards". Yale Bulletin and Calendar. 1998. 
  23. ^ "Other Student Awards and Honors". Yale Bulletin and Calendar. May 26, 2000. 
  24. ^ Yale Bulletin and Calendar, 35:30 (June 2007)

External links