John Pitkin Norton (July 19, 1822 – September 5, 1852) was an educator, agricultural chemist, and author.

Biography

Norton was born in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

, in 1822, where his father John Treadwell Norton, a successful farmer and engineer, owned a hardware store. His mother, Mary Hubbard Pitkin, married his father in 1821 and died in 1829. He and his father returned to

Farmington, Connecticut Farmington is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County in the Farmington Valley area of central Connecticut in the United States. The town is part of the Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, Capitol Planning Region. The populati ...

, to live on land his father inherited from his grandfather

John Treadwell John Treadwell (November 23, 1745 – August 18, 1823) was an American politician and the 21st Governor of Connecticut. Biography Treadwell was born in Farmington, Connecticut the only son of Ephraim and Mary (Porter) Treadwell, on November 23 ...

, former

governor of Connecticut The governor of Connecticut is the head of government of Connecticut, and the commander-in-chief of the U.S. state, state's Connecticut Military Department, military forces. The Governor (United States), governor has a duty to enforce state laws, ...

. Norton went to Edinburgh in 1844 to study

agricultural chemistry Agricultural chemistry is the chemistry, especially organic chemistry and biochemistry, as they relate to agriculture. Agricultural chemistry embraces the structures and chemical reactions relevant in the production, protection, and use of Crop, ...

with

James F. W. Johnston James Finlay Weir Johnston, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS FRSE (13 September 1796 – 18 September 1855) was a Scotland, Scottish agriculture, agricultural chemist and mineralogist. Life Born in Paisley, Scotland, Paisley, Renfrewshire, ...

. There he made a study of the

oat The oat (''Avena sativa''), sometimes called the common oat, is a species of cereal grain grown for its seed, which is known by the same name (usually in the plural). Oats appear to have been domesticated as a secondary crop, as their seeds ...

which was read at the

British Association The British Science Association (BSA) is a charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA). The current Chief ...

in June, 1945. He then toured continental laboratories, including a visit with countryman

Eben Horsford Eben Norton Horsford (July 27, 1818 – January 1, 1893) was an American scientist who taught agricultural chemistry in the Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard from 1847 to 1863. Later he was known for his reformulation of baking powder, his i ...

who was in Giessen studying with Liebig. To gain greater orientation to

organic chemistry Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the science, scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic matter, organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain ...

he went to

Gerardus Mulder Gerardus Johannes Mulder or Gerrit Jan Mulder (27 December 1802 – 18 April 1880) was a Dutch organic and analytical chemist. Life Mulder was born in Utrecht and earned a medical degree from Utrecht University. He became a reader of chem ...

in Utrecht. Norton acted as a

foreign correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...

for '' The Cultivator'' and ''American Agriculturalist'' as he submitted monthly letters describing his observations. Norton studied chemistry under

Benjamin Silliman Benjamin Silliman (August 8, 1779 – November 24, 1864) was an American chemist and science education, science educator. He was one of the first American professors of science, the first science professor at Yale University, Yale, and the firs ...

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

, and was eventually appointed professor of agricultural chemistry at Yale in 1846. He helped to found the department of philosophy and the arts at Yale with Silliman's son,

Benjamin Silliman, Jr. Benjamin Silliman Jr. (December 4, 1816 – January 14, 1885) was a professor of chemistry at Yale University and instrumental in developing the petroleum industry. His father Benjamin Silliman Sr., also a famous Yale chemist, developed the pro ...

, which would later become the

Sheffield Scientific School Sheffield Scientific School was founded in 1847 as a school of Yale University, 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 Jos ...

and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. He was the author of ''Elements of Scientific Agriculture'' (1850), and many scientific papers, dealing with the chemistry of crops. During his short teaching career at Yale (1846–52), he took Samuel William Johnson as a pupil, who would later become one of the country's foremost educators in scientific agriculture. Norton succumbed to tuberculosis at the age of 30, and died in

, in 1852. He is buried in

Grove Street Cemetery Grove Street Cemetery or Grove Street Burial Ground is a cemetery in New Haven, Connecticut, that is surrounded by the Yale University campus. It was organized in 1796 as the New Haven Burying Ground and incorporated in October 1797 to replace th ...

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...

Works

* * * - Originally published in 1850

Legacy

Norton is one of the few scientists recognized in the United States Capitol in Washington DC. A small statue of him is on the

Edmond Amateis Edmond Romulus Amateis (27February 18971 May 1981) was an American sculptor and educator. He is known for garden-figure sculptures, large architectural sculptures for public buildings and portrait busts. Life and career Amateis was the son of Lo ...

bronze doors. (See pp. 350 – 351 of ''Art in the United States Capitol'', 1978, US Government Printing Office.) Norton's house, completed in 1849 and designed by Henry Austin to resemble an Italian villa, was included in the federal government's

Historic American Buildings Survey The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

as the John Pitkin Norton House. It was purchased by Yale in 1923 and is now known as Steinbach Hall. Norton's great-granddaughter, Mary DeWitt Pettit, donated his papers to Yale in 1969.

References

External links

John Pitkin Norton papers
MS 367 Manuscripts and Archives,

Yale University Library The Yale University Library is the library system of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Originating in 1701 with the gift of several dozen books to a new “Collegiate School," the library's collection now contains approximately 14.9 m ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Norton, John Pitkin 1822 births 1852 deaths Yale University faculty American biochemists Burials at Grove Street Cemetery Sheffield Scientific School faculty American agronomists

Biography

Works

Legacy

References

Further reading

External links