Everything about John William Draper totally explained
John William Draper (
May 5,
1811, –
January 4,
1882) was an
American (
English-born)
scientist,
philosopher,
physician,
chemist,
historian, and
photographer.
Early life
John William Draper was born
May 5,
1811 in
St. Helens, Merseyside,
England to John Christopher Draper, a
Wesleyan clergyman and Sarah (Ripley) Draper. He also had three sisters, Dorothy Catherine, Elizabeth Johnson, and Sarah Ripley. On
June 23, he was baptized by the
Wesleyan minister
Jabez Bunting. His father often needed to move the family due to serving various congregations throughout England. John William was home tutored until 1822, when he entered
Woodhouse Grove. He returned to home instruction (1826) prior to entering
University College London in 1829.
On
September 13,
1831, John William married Antonia Coetana de Paiva Pereira Gardner (c.
1814-
1870), the daughter of Daniel Gardner, a court physician to
John VI of Portugal and
Charlotte of Spain. Antonia was born in
Brazil after the royal family fled
Portugal with
Napoleon's invasion. There is dispute as to the identity of Antonia's mother. Around 1830, she was sent with her brother Daniel to live with their aunt in
London.
Following his father's death in July,
1831, John William's mother was urged to move with her children to
Virginia. John William hoped to acquire a teaching position at a local
Methodist college.
Virginia
In
1832, the family settled in
Mecklenburg County, Virginia 7 1/2 miles (12 km) east (on
Virginia State Route 47) from Christiansville (now
Chase City). Although he arrived too late to obtain the prospective teaching position, John William established a laboratory in Christiansville. Here he conducted experiments and published eight papers before entering medical school. His sister, Dorothy Catherine Draper provided finances through teaching drawing and painting for his medical education. In March 1836, he graduated from the
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. That same year, he began teaching at
Hampden-Sydney College in
Virginia.
New York
In 1837, he took an appointment at
New York University; he was elected professor of chemistry and botany the next year. He was a professor in its school of medicine from 1840 to 1850, president of that school from 1850 to 1873, and professor of chemistry until 1881. He was a founder of the
New York University Medical School.
Work
He did important research in
photochemistry, made portrait photography possible by his improvements (1839) on
Louis Daguerre's process, and published a textbook on Chemistry (1846), textbook on Natural Philosophy (1847), textbook on Physiology (1866), and Scientific Memoirs (1878) on radiant energy. He was also the first person to take an
astrophotograph; he took the first photo of the
Moon which showed any lunar features in 1840. Then in 1843 he made daguerreotypes which showed new features on the moon in the visible spectrum. In 1850 he was making photo-micrographs and engaged his then teenage son, Henry, into their production.
He developed the proposition in 1842 that only light rays that are absorbed can produce chemical change. It came to be known as the
Grotthuss-Draper law when his name was teamed with a prior but apparently unknown promulgator
Theodor Grotthuss of the same idea in 1817.
Contributions to the discipline of history: He is well known also as the author of
The History of the Intellectual Development of Europe (1862), applying the methods of physical science to history, a
History of the American Civil War (3 vols., 1867-1870), and a
History of the Conflict between Religion and Science (1874). The last book listed is among the most influential works on the
conflict thesis, which takes its name from Draper's title.
He served as the first president of the
American Chemical Society between 1876 and 1877.
Children
Death
He died on
January 4,
1882 at his home in
Hastings-on-Hudson, New York at the age of 70. The funeral was held at
St Mark's Church in-the-Bowery in
New York City. He was buried in
Green-Wood Cemetery,
Brooklyn, New York.
Legacy
In 1976,
New York University founded the John W. Draper Interdisciplinary Master's Program in Humanities and Social Thought (Draper Program)
(External Link
) in honour of his life-long commitment to interdisciplinary study.
In 2001, Draper was designated an
ACS National Historical Chemical Landmark in recognition of his role as the first president of
American Chemical Society.
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