Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard (May 5, 1809 – April 27, 1889) was an American academic and educator who served as the 10th President of Columbia University. Born in

Sheffield, Massachusetts Sheffield is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 3,327 at the 2020 census. Sheffield is home to Berkshire School, a private prepa ...

, he graduated from Yale University in 1828 and served in a succession of academic appointments, including as

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

of the

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi ( byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment ...

from 1856 to 1861. He assumed office as President of Columbia University in 1864, where he presided over a series of improvements to the university until his death in 1889. He was also known as an author of academic texts.

Early life

He was born on May 5, 1809, in Sheffield, Massachusetts. His brother, John G. Barnard, was a career officer in the U.S. Army who served as the superintendent of the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

and later as a general in the Union Army during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

. Barnard had a hereditary form of deafness that intensified in his later years, along with his brother and most of his family. He graduated from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...

in 1828, where he pursued astronomical studies and was a member of the

Linonian Society Linonia is a literary and debating society founded in 1753 at Yale University. It is the university's second-oldest secret society. History Linonia was founded on September 12, 1753, as Yale College's second literary and debating society, af ...

Career

Barnard became a tutor at Yale following his graduation in 1828. He later served as a teacher at the American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb at

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...

between 1831 and 1832, and at the New York Institute for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb between 1832 and 1838. He taught at the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publ ...

in various capacities from 1838 to 1854, where he was a professor of

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

and

natural philosophy Natural philosophy or philosophy of nature (from Latin ''philosophia naturalis'') is the philosophical study of physics, that is, nature and the physical universe. It was dominant before the development of modern science. From the ancien ...

until 1848, and a professor of

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the elements that make up matter to the compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions: their composition, structure, proper ...

and natural history thereafter. He also filled the chair of English literature during his time at the university. Barnard was ordained as a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...

in the

Protestant Episcopal Church The Episcopal Church, based in the United States with additional dioceses elsewhere, is a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is divided into nine provinces. The presiding bishop of ...

in 1854. In the same year he took up position as a professor of mathematics and natural philosophy at the

, where he eventually assumed the office of chancellor from 1856 through to the outbreak of the

in 1861, when he resigned due to his Unionist sympathies. During his time at the university he was subject to scrutiny from the board of trustees for taking the testimony of a slave against that of a student who had allegedly assaulted her. He was sent to

Labrador , nickname = "The Big Land" , etymology = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Canada , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 ...

in 1860 to observe an

eclipse of the sun A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of the Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six mon ...

; in 1862 he worked on the reduction of Gilliss's observations of stars in the Southern Hemisphere, and in 1863 he supervised the publication of maps and charts of the United States Coastal Survey. He was elected as an Associate Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

in 1860; as president of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...

in 1866, as a member of the Board of Experts of the

American Bureau of Mines American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the " United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

in 1865, and as a member of the American Institute in 1872. He also gained membership in the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

in 1871.

Columbia College

He served as the 10th President of Columbia College (now

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

) in New York City, holding office for an unprecedented term of 25 years from 1864 to 1889 - longer than that of any of his predecessors. During this period the college experienced rapid growth. New departments were established; the elective system was greatly extended, greater provisions were made for graduate study and original research, and enrolment increased from approximately 150 students to over 1000. Barnard himself served as a scholar of English and the

classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

, and as an expert in the fields of mathematics, physics, and chemistry. He was known as a skilled public speaker, with his annual reports to the

Board of Trustees A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit org ...

including valuable discussions of educational problems. He also served as the co-editor-in-chief of ''

Johnson's New Universal Cyclopaedia The 12-volume ''Universal Cyclopaedia'' was edited by Charles Kendall Adams, and was published by D. Appleton & Company in 1900. The name was changed to ''Universal Cyclopaedia and Atlas'' in 1902, with editor . History This was the culmination ...

'' (1876), alongside

Arnold Henry Guyot Arnold Henry Guyot ( ) (September 28, 1807February 8, 1884) was a Swiss-American geologist and geographer. Early life Guyot was born on September 28, 1807, at Boudevilliers, near Neuchâtel, Switzerland. He was educated at Chaux-de-Fonds, th ...

. Other texts authored by Barnard, include ''Treatise on Arithmetic'' (1830), ''Analytical Grammar with Symbolic Illustration'' (1836), ''Letters on Collegiate Government'' (1855), ''History of the United States Coast Survey'' (1857), ''Recent Progress in Science'' (1869), and ''The Metric System'' (1871). He died on April 27, 1889, in New York City. In his will, the bulk of his estate was left to Columbia College.

Legacy

Barnard strove to extend educational privileges to women that were normally reserved for men, and the establishment of Barnard Women's College, following his death, was done so in his honor.

Barnard Observatory Barnard Observatory is an academic building at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Mississippi. Completed as an observatory in 1859, it was part of the astronomy focus that chancellor Frederick A.P. Barnard had for the school. Due to the out ...

, one of the few buildings of the

that survived the

, is also named in his honor.

Barnard Medal for Meritorious Service to Science

The Barnard Medal for Meritorious Service to Science was established in 1889 according to the instructions of his will, and has been awarded by Columbia University every five years, beginning in 1895.

Writings

References

External links

*
F. A. P. Barnard Collection (MUM00519)
at The University of Mississippi, Archive and Special Collections
National Academy of Sciences Biographical MemoirFinding aid to Frederick A.P. Barnard papers at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barnard, Frederick A. P. 1809 births 1889 deaths University of Mississippi faculty Presidents of Columbia University Yale University alumni Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences People from Sheffield, Massachusetts Educators of the deaf Deaf religious workers Deaf people from the United States