Edward Warren Clark (January 27, 1849 – June 5, 1907) was an American educator who taught thousands of young Japanese the rudiments of modern science while employed as a teacher in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

from 1871 to 1875.

Biography

Edward Warren Clark was born on January 27, 1849, in

Portsmouth, New Hampshire Portsmouth is a city in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census it had a population of 21,956. A historic seaport and popular summer tourist destination on ...

to Rufus Wheelwright Clark and Eliza C Clark. Clark and his family moved from Portsmouth to New York when he was six. He graduated from what is now

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

in 1869 with a degree in Chemistry and Biology. He was one of several hundred teachers hired by the Japanese government to familiarize students with the science and technology of the West. Clark first taught at a school in Shizuoka that trained students to become science teachers. He later taught at what became

Tokyo University The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, where he helped to found the chemistry department, one of the first of its kind in Japan. A devout Christian, Clark sought to introduce the Bible and Christian doctrines to his students whenever possible. After returning to the United States Clark wrote a highly informative book about Japan: ''Life and Adventure in Japan''. Clark, who later became an

Episcopalian Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protes ...

priest, visited Japan on two later occasions and worked hard to garner American support for Japan during the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...

(1904–05). Clark was a close associate of

William Elliot Griffis William Elliot Griffis (September 17, 1843 - February 5, 1928) was an American orientalist, Congregational minister, lecturer, and prolific author.Brown, John Howard. (1904)."Griffis, William Elliot,"''The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictiona ...

(1842–1928), widely regarded as the first major American Japanologist.

Biography

References

Further reading