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Alexander Dallas Bache (July 19, 1806 – February 17, 1867) was an American physicist, scientist, and surveyor who erected coastal fortifications and conducted a detailed survey to map the mideastern United States coastline. Originally an army engineer, he later became Superintendent of the United States Coast Survey, and built it into the foremost scientific institution in the country before the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
.


Early life and education

Bache was born in
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
, the son of Richard Bache, Jr., and Sophia Burrell Dallas Bache. He came from a family prominent in American politics. He was the nephew of Vice-President George M. Dallas and naval hero Alexander J. Dallas, the grandson of Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Dallas, and the great-grandson of
Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...
.


Career


United States Army

After graduating from the
United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...
at
West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...
in 1825, as first in his class, he was an assistant professor of engineering there for some time. As a second lieutenant in the
United States Army Corps of Engineers The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the military engineering branch of the United States Army. A direct reporting unit (DRU), it has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil wo ...
, he was engaged in the construction of Fort Adams in
Newport, Rhode Island Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, United States. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and nort ...
. Bache resigned from the Army on June 1, 1829.


University of Pennsylvania

Bache was a professor of
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, while ignoring any supernatural influence. It was dominant before the develop ...
and chemistry at the
University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...
from 1828 to 1841 and again from 1842 to 1843. He spent 1836–1838 in Europe on behalf of the trustees of what became Girard College; he was named president of the college after his return. Abroad, he examined European education systems, and on his return he published a valuable report. From 1839 to 1842, he served as the first president of Central High School of Philadelphia, one of the oldest public high schools in the United States.


U.S. Coast Survey

In 1843, on the death of Professor Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler, Bache was appointed superintendent of the United States Coast Survey. Whereas Hassler had faced continual doubts from Congress, Bache succeeded in convincing legislators of the value of
geodesy Geodesy or geodetics is the science of measuring and representing the Figure of the Earth, geometry, Gravity of Earth, gravity, and Earth's rotation, spatial orientation of the Earth in Relative change, temporally varying Three-dimensional spac ...
in addition to geomagnetic and meteorological research. With many contacts, friends, and family among the nation's political and military leaders, Bache won liberal appropriations to build up his agency and greatly expand its work. By the mid 1850s it had become the federal government's leading scientific bureau. In 1849, it began study of the Pacific Coast, which the US had newly acquired via the US-Mexico War and
Oregon Treaty The Oregon Treaty was a treaty between the United Kingdom and the United States that was signed on June 15, 1846, in Washington, D.C. The treaty brought an end to the Oregon boundary dispute by settling competing American and British claims to ...
. Assisted by
Isaac Stevens Isaac Ingalls Stevens (March 25, 1818 – September 1, 1862) was an American military officer and politician who served as governor of the Territory of Washington from 1853 to 1857, and later as its delegate to the United States House of Represe ...
, his number two in Washington, DC, Bache reorganized the Coast Survey so that it could complete initial mapping of the entire US coast.


The American Association for the Advancement of Science, Smithsonian, and "Lazzaroni"

By the 1840s, a clique of leading US scientists began to coalesce around Bache with the goal of professionalizing their fields. They formalized with establishment of the Association of American Geologists and Naturalists in 1843 (renamed the
American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...
five years later) and the
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...
in 1846. Informally, Bache and his circle called themselves the Scientific Lazzaroni. Together, the groups created and enforced standards of intellectual merit with the goal of elevating the nation and its reputation. This meant discrediting charlatans but, at times, also denying research funding or academic appointments to others. Perhaps most important, the groups advised and even mentored politicians and army engineers. Bache would lead the AAAS until 1851 and serve on the Smithsonian's board of regents throughout his term as Coast Survey superintendent.


Civil War and Later Life

As the sectional crisis worsened through the late 1850s, Coast Survey budgets became ensnared by polarization and conflicts in Congress. Then, the start of war in 1861 brought a stop to work along the South's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Bache withdrew Survey ships from the region so they would not fall into secessionists' hands. At the same time, some staff resigned to join the Confederacy. A number of trusted friends and Democratic allies, including senators
Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the only President of the Confederate States of America, president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the Unite ...
and Stephen Mallory, would lead the rebellion — acts that Bache took as both political and personal treachery. Yet the Civil War enhanced the Coast Survey's stature in Washington, DC. By this time, the agency had amassed charts of southern harbors, rivers, and coastal terrain. The research gave a critical advantage to the Union military. Meanwhile, Bache continued to lead scientists to greater influence in government, helping to establish the U.S. Sanitary Commission and
National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...
. Official duties and private worries contributed to Bache's declining health. By 1864 he had suffered a stroke, which left him handicapped and unable to work without his wife's assistance. Bache served as head of the Coast Survey for 24 years (until his death).


Awards and honors

* Elected a member of the
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...
in 1829. * Elected an Associate Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) 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, and other ...
in 1845. * Elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...
on March 15, 1858, * Elected Foreign Member of the
Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
on May 24, 1860. After the Civil War, Bache was elected a 3rd Class Companion of the
Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States The Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS), or, simply, the Loyal Legion, is a United States military order organized on April 15, 1865, by three veteran officers of the Union Army. The original membership was consisted ...
(MOLLUS) in consideration of his contributions to the war effort.


Personal life

He married Nancy Clark Fowler on September 30, 1838, in
Newport, Rhode Island Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, United States. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and nort ...
. She was born in Newport and died on January 13, 1870, in Philadelphia. She assisted in the publication of much of his work. They adopted one son, Henry Wood Bache (1839–1878).


Death

He died at Newport, Rhode Island on February 17, 1867, from
cerebral softening Cerebral softening, also known as encephalomalacia, is a localized softening of the parenchyma, substance of the brain, due to bleeding or inflammation. Three varieties, distinguished by their color and representing different stages of the disease ...
. He was buried in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C., under a
monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical ...
designed by architect
Henry Hobson Richardson Henry Hobson Richardson, FAIA (September 29, 1838 – April 27, 1886) was an American architect, best known for his work in a style that became known as Richardsonian Romanesque. Along with Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, Richardson is one ...
.


Legacy

*Two survey ships were named for him, the ''A. D. Bache'' of 1871 and its successor in 1901. *The cydippid ctenophore '' Pleurobrachia bachei'' A. Agassiz, 1860 was named for him; it was discovered in 1859 by Alexander Agassiz who was working as an engineer on a ship surveying the United States-Canada border between
Washington state Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...
and
British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
. *Bache-Martin School, a public elementary school in Philadelphia, has its 5th-8th grade building named after him.


See also

* Alexander Dallas Bache Monument, Bache's gravesite in the Congressional Cemetery in
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
* Alexander Dallas Bache School in Philadelphia * Alexander Bache U.S. Coast Survey Line * Richard Bache, Bache's paternal grandfather and son-in-law of
Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...
* Richard Bache, Jr., Bache's father * Sarah Franklin Bache, Bache's paternal grandmother and daughter of Benjamin Franklin


Notes


References

* * * * * * * * * * Attribution: *


External links


Finding Aid to Alexander Dallas Bache Papers, 1821–1869National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir
*[http://celebrating200years.noaa.gov/historymakers/bache/welcome.html Alexander Dallas Bache: Leader of American Science and Second Superintendent of the United States Coast Survey (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)] {{DEFAULTSORT:Bache, Alexander Dallas 1806 births 1867 deaths American chemists American physicists Burials at the Congressional Cemetery Engineers from Pennsylvania Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Foreign members of the Royal Society Franklin family Honorary Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Presidents of the United States National Academy of Sciences Scientists from Philadelphia United States Army officers United States Coast Survey personnel United States Military Academy alumni University of Pennsylvania faculty Members of the American Philosophical Society