Rolla Clinton Carpenter C.E. M.M.E. LL.D. (June 26, 1852 – January 19, 1919)"Prof. Rolla C. Carpenter Dead", ''Buffalo Evening News'' (January 20, 1919), p. 2. was an American engineer, academic, and writer. Carpenter was born in Orion (now

Lake Orion Lake Orion ( ) is a village in the northern outskirts of Metro Detroit in Oakland County, Michigan, United States. The population was 2,973 at the 2010 census. "Lake Orion" can refer to either the village or the much larger Orion Township, of w ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

. He earned a B.S. in 1873 from Michigan State Agricultural College (today,

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It ...

) and later received additional bachelor's and master's degrees from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

in 1875. From 1875 to 1890 he was professor of mathematics and civil engineering in the Michigan State Agricultural College; while there, he designed and supervised much of the construction at the young school. In 1887, he and Professor

William J. Beal William James Beal (March 11, 1833 – May 12, 1924) was an American botanist. He was a pioneer in the development of hybrid corn and the founder of the W. J. Beal Botanical Garden. Biography Beal was born in Adrian, Michigan, to William an ...

laid out "Collegeville", the first neighborhood in what later became the city of

East Lansing, Michigan East Lansing is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Most of the city lies within Ingham County with a smaller portion extending north into Clinton County. At the 2020 Census the population was 47,741. Located directly east of the state capital ...

. He was appointed to a position at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

in 1890. He served as a judge of

machinery A machine is a physical system using power to apply forces and control movement to perform an action. The term is commonly applied to artificial devices, such as those employing engines or motors, but also to natural biological macromolecul ...

and transportation at the

World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...

in 1893. He was president of the American Society of Heating and Ventilating Engineers in 1898. He was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Laws by the Michigan State Agricultural College in 1907. In addition to numerous scientific papers, he published: * ''Heating and Ventilating Buildings: a Manual for Heating Engineers and Architects'' (1891) * ''Instructions for Mechanical Laboratory Practice: Text-Book of Experimental Engineering'' (1892) * ''Internal Combustion Engines: Their Theory, Construction and Operation'' (1908) (co-author) Carpenter died at his home in

Ithaca, New York Ithaca is a city in the Finger Lakes region of New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, Ithaca is the seat of Tompkins County and the largest community in the Ithaca metropolitan statistical area. It is named ...

, at the age of 66.

References

* * 1852 births 1919 deaths American engineers American instructional writers American textbook writers American male non-fiction writers Michigan State University faculty University of Michigan alumni Michigan State University alumni Cornell University faculty East Lansing, Michigan People from Lake Orion, Michigan {{US-engineer-stub