Andrew Dickson White
Andrew Dickson White (born November 7, 1832 in Homer , New York , † November 4, 1918 in Ithaca , New York) was an American diplomat , writer and educator.
Life
After graduating from Yale University in 1853, White spent three years studying in Europe before returning to the United States to take up a professorship in history and English literature at the University of Michigan .
In 1865, White and the industrial tycoon Ezra Cornell (1807-1874) founded Cornell University on Cornell's property in Ithaca. White became its first president. His forward-looking leadership paved the way for the university to become one of the most outstanding educational institutions in the world, particularly in the fields of agricultural research and engineering. In 1868 White was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and in 1898 to the National Institute of Arts and Letters (later the American Academy of Arts and Letters ). After 14 years at Cornell, he resigned and served as the US envoy to Germany (1879–1881) and Russia (1892–1894), and as ambassador to Germany (1897–1902).
During his stay in Russia, White, who was known as a literary friend, made the acquaintance of the writer Leo Tolstoy . Tolstoy's enthusiasm for Mormonism sparked a similar interest in White, who, like most educated Americans of his day, had been rather hostile to the Latter-day Saints and considered them a dangerous sect . On his return to the United States, he took advantage of Cornell's relative proximity to the original Mormon homeland near Rochester to assemble a collection of memorabilia, including many original copies of the Book of Mormon , that are only found in the Mormon church and university, Brigham Young University , can be found.
Since 1900 he was an honorary member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences .
With his two-volume book A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom (1896), White co-founded the conflict thesis, according to which science and religion are at war with one another.
Works
- History of the feud between science and theology in Christianity , Thomas Verlag, Leipzig 1895
Secondary literature
- Wolfgang Drechsler : Andrew D. White in Germany . Academic Publishing House, Stuttgart 1989.
- Glenn C. Altschuler : Andrew D. White: Educator, Historian, Diplomat . Cornell University Press, Ithaca NY 1979.
Web links
- Literature by and about Andrew Dickson White in the catalog of the German National Library
-
Project Gutenberg e-texts of Andrew Dickson White's work:
- History Of The Warfare Of Science With Theology In Christendom
- Autobiography of Andrew Dickson White: Vol. 1 , Vol. 2
- The Mythical Conflict between Science and Religion (addresses White's claims)
- The Myth of the Flat Earth
Individual evidence
- ↑ Members: Andrew Dickson White. American Academy of Arts and Letters, accessed May 3, 2019 .
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Bayard Taylor |
US Ambassador to Berlin June 19, 1879–15. August 1881 |
Aaron Augustus Sargent |
| Charles Emory Smith |
US Ambassador to St. Petersburg July 22, 1892–1. October 1894 |
Clifton R. Breckinridge |
| Edwin F. Uhl | US Ambassador to Berlin June 12, 1897-27. November 1902 |
Charlemagne Tower |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | White, Andrew Dickson |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American diplomat, writer and educator |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 7, 1832 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Homer , New York |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 4, 1918 |
| Place of death | Ithaca , New York |