Eli Whitney Blake Jr. (April 20, 1836 – October 1, 1895) was an American scientist. His father and namesake was an inventor and partner of the Blake Brothers manufacturing firm. The origin of the name Eli Whitney comes from Blake senior's uncle
Eli Whitney
Eli Whitney Jr. (December 8, 1765January 8, 1825) was an American inventor, widely known for inventing the cotton gin, one of the key inventions of the Industrial Revolution that shaped the economy of the Antebellum South.
Although Whitney h ...
, who changed the face of the cotton industry with the invention of the
cotton gin
A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); a ...
.
Early life
Blake was born on April 20, 1836, in
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...
. He was one of twelve children born to
Eli Whitney Blake
Eli Whitney Blake, Sr. (January 27, 1795 – August 18, 1886) was an American inventor, best known for his mortise lock and stone-crushing machine, the latter of which earned him a place into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
Early life
Bla ...
and Eliza Maria (
née
A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth ...
O'Brien) Blake.
[Alida Blake Hazard: ''The Blakes of 77 Elm Street: A Family Sketch''. Quinnipiac Press, New Haven 1925. pp. 33–34.] Through his mother, he was a descendant of the Rev.
James Pierpont, one of the co-founders of Yale.
Blake graduated from
Yale
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 wo ...
in 1857, after which he spent a year at
Sheffield Scientific School
Sheffield Scientific School was founded in 1847 as a school of Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut, for instruction in science and engineering. Originally named the Yale Scientific School, it was renamed in 1861 in honor of Joseph E. Sheffield ...
. He was a member of
Skull and Bones
Skull and Bones, also known as The Order, Order 322 or The Brotherhood of Death, is an undergraduate senior secret student society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The oldest senior class society at the university, Skull and Bone ...
, class of 1857. Following his time at Sheffield, he traveled to
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...
, where he studied chemistry and physics in the universities of
Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...
,
Marburg
Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approx ...
, and
Berlin
Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...
.
Career
On his return to
America
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territor ...
, he was made professor of chemistry and physics at the
University of Vermont
The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a public land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is among the oldest universities in the United ...
(1867). After less than a year, he went to
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 ...
, where he was professor of physics and mechanic arts (1868–1870). During this time he also acted temporarily as professor of physics at
Columbia College Columbia College may refer to one of several institutions of higher education in North America:
Canada
* Columbia College (Alberta), in Calgary
* Columbia College (British Columbia), a two-year liberal arts institution in Vancouver
* Columbia In ...
from 1868 to 1869. From 1870 to 1895, he filled the chair of physics at
Brown University.
Although not a well-known figure in the scientific community, Blake was a member 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 responsi ...
and other similar associations. He also contributed to various scientific periodicals, such as the ''
American Journal of Science and Arts
The ''American Journal of Science'' (''AJS'') is the United States of America's longest-running scientific journal, having been published continuously since its conception in 1818 by Professor Benjamin Silliman, who edited and financed it himself ...
''.
Publications
*
*
Personal life
On March 8, 1860, Blake was married to Helen Mary Rood (1832–1869), the daughter of Rev. Anson Rood and Alida Gouverneur (née Ogden) Rood (daughter of Rev.
Uzal Ogden
Uzal Ogden (1744 - November 4, 1822) was an American clergyman, at first a member of the Episcopal Church and later as a minister of the Presbyterian Church.
Early life
Ogden was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1744. He was the son of Elizabeth C ...
).
Among her family was uncle Nicholas Gouverneur Ogden, a partner of
John Jacob Astor
John Jacob Astor (born Johann Jakob Astor; July 17, 1763 – March 29, 1848) was a German-American businessman, merchant, real estate mogul, and investor who made his fortune mainly in a fur trade monopoly, by smuggling opium into China, and ...
.
Together, Eli and Helen were the parents of:
* Alida Gouverneur Blake (1861–1938), who married Barclay Hazard, the son of
Thomas Robinson Hazard
Thomas Robinson "Shepherd Tom" Hazard (January 3, 1797 – March 26, 1886) was an American author, social reformer, and advocate of Modern Spiritualism.
Early life
Hazard was born on January 3, 1797, in the village of South Kingstown, Rhode I ...
and nephew of
Rowland G. Hazard.
* Eli Whitney Blake III (1867–1902), who died aged 35.
Blake died on October 1, 1895, in
Hampton, Connecticut
Hampton is a town in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 1,728 at the 2020 census.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which, is land and (1.96%) is water.
Histo ...
.
See also
*
John Peirce
John Peirce (August 16, 1836 – March 3, 1897) was an American professor of chemistry, a scientist and an inventor. He participated in the development of the telephone.
Biography
Peirce was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on August 16, 18 ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blake, Eli Whitney Jr.
Cornell University faculty
1836 births
1895 deaths
Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science alumni
Humboldt University of Berlin alumni
University of Marburg alumni
Heidelberg University alumni
Brown University faculty
Columbia University faculty
American expatriates in Germany