Samuel Latham Mitchill

Samuel Latham Mitchill (born August 20, 1764 in Hempstead , New York Province, † September 7, 1831 in New York City ) was an American physicist , naturalist and politician .

Life

In 1786 he graduated from Edinburgh University . He served in the New York State Assembly in 1791 and 1798 . From 1792 to 1801 he taught chemistry , botany and natural history at Columbia College . In 1793 he was elected to the Royal Society of Edinburgh and in 1797 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

1801 he was appointed as deputy of the Party Republican Democratic in the United States House of Representatives voted. He remained there until his resignation on November 22, 1804. One day later, on 23 November 1804 he was in the Senate of the United States elected to the seat of the beaten John Armstrong, Jr. to take over. He did this until March 3, 1809. Then he was re-elected to the House of Representatives from December 4, 1810 to March 3, 1813.

Mitchill was the author of The Fishes of New-York , published in 1815. He is the first to describe numerous species, such as the glass eye perch or the American river perch .

Samuel Latham Mitchill taught chemistry and science from 1808 to 1820 at the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons, which is now part of Columbia University , and until 1826 he taught botany and medical science. In 1817 he founded "The Lyceum of Natural History in the City of New York", from 1831 the New York Academy of Sciences . Mitchill was one of the co-founders of the short-lived Rutgers Medical School in New Jersey, where he was vice president from 1826 to 1830.

In the first years of the 19th century a new name for the "United States of America" was sought because it was too long, imprecise and unpoetic . In addition to serious suggestions like Columbia , Mitchill suggested the name Fredonia , derived from the words freedom with a Latin ending. This name was never seriously considered as a candidate, numerous towns and villages, such as B. Fredonia, New York , but were named after.

Web links

Commons : Samuel Latham Mitchill - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Samuel Latham Mitchill in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

Individual evidence

^ Fellows Directory. Biographical Index: Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002. (PDF file) Royal Society of Edinburgh, accessed March 21, 2020 .

personal data
SURNAME	Mitchill, Samuel Latham
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American physicist, naturalist, and politician
DATE OF BIRTH	August 20, 1764
PLACE OF BIRTH	Hempstead , New York
DATE OF DEATH	September 7, 1831
Place of death	New York City

[1] Fellows Directory. Biographical Index: Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002. (PDF file) Royal Society of Edinburgh, accessed March 21, 2020 .