Amos Eaton
| Amos Eaton | |
|---|---|
Amos Eaton (1776-1842)
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| Born |
7 May 1776 Chatham, New York |
| Died | 10 May 1842 (aged 66) Troy, New York |
| Nationality | United States |
| Fields | |
| Institutions |
Williams College Castleton Medical College Rensselaer School |
| Alma mater | Williams College |
| Known for | |
| Influenced |
James Curtis Booth Ezra S. Carr George Hammell Cook James Dwight Dana James Eights Ebenezer Emmons Asa Fitch Asa Gray James Hall Joseph Henry Eben Norton Horsford Douglass Houghton Mary Mason Lyon Almira Hart Lincoln Phelps John Leonard Riddell Abram Sager John Torrey Emma Willard |
| Spouse |
Polly Thomas (m. 1799; d. 1803) Sally Cady (m. 1803; d. 1816) Anna Bradley (m. 1816; d. 1826) Alice Johnson (m. 1827; d. 1831) |
| Children | Twelve |
Amos Eaton (17 May 1776 – 10 May 1842) was an American botanist, geologist, and educator who is considered the founder of the modern scientific prospectus in education, which was a radical departure from the American liberal arts tradition of classics, religious classes, lecture, and recitation. Eaton co-founded the Rensselaer School in 1824 with Stephen van Rensselaer III "in the application of science to the common purposes of life". His books in the eighteenth century were among the first published for which a systematic treatment of the United States was attempted, and in a language that all could read. His teaching laboratory for botany in the 1820s was the first of its kind in the country. Eaton's popular lectures and writings inspired numerous thinkers, in particular women, whom he encouraged to attend his public talks on experimental philosophy.Emma Willard would found the Troy Female Seminary (Emma Willard School), and Mary Mason Lyon, the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (Mount Holyoke College). Eaton held the rank of senior professor at Rensselaer until his death in 1842.
Amos Eaton was born at Chatham, Columbia County, New York on 17 May 1776. His father, Captain Abel Eaton was a farmer of comfortable means. He belonged to a family that traced its lineage to John Eaton, who arrived from Dover, England in 1635, settling two years later in Dedham, Massachusetts Bay Colony. Amos Eaton showed early preference for nature, by the age of sixteen constructing his own compass and chain to survey land as a chain bearer.
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