John Torrey

John Torrey
Daguerreotype of John Torrey, 1840
Born	August 15, 1796 New York City
Died	March 10, 1873(1873-03-10) (aged 76) New York City
Nationality	American
Fields	botanist and chemist
Alma mater	Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
Notable awards	United States Assay Commission Medal of 1874
Author abbrev. (botany)	Torr.
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John Torrey (August 15, 1796 – March 10, 1873) was an American botanist, chemist, and physician. Throughout much of his career, Torrey was a teacher of chemistry, often at multiple universities, while at the same time pursuing botanical work. Dr. Torrey's botanical career focused on the flora of North America. His most renowned works include studies of the New York flora, the Mexican Boundary, the Pacific railroad surveys, as well as the uncompleted Flora of North America.

Torrey was born in New York City, the second child of Capt. William and Margaret (née Nichols) Torrey. Torrey showed a fondness for mechanics, and at one time planned to become a machinist, but when he was 15 or 16 years of age his father received an appointment to the state prison at Greenwich Village, New York, where he was tutored by Amos Eaton, then a prisoner and later a pioneer of natural history studies in America. He thus learned the elements of botany, as well as something of mineralogy and chemistry. In 1815 he began the study of medicine with Wright Post, qualifying in 1818. He opened an office in New York City, and engaged in the practice of medicine, at the same time devoting his leisure to botany and other scientific pursuits.

In 1817, he became one of the founders of the New York Lyceum of Natural History (now the New York Academy of Science), and one of his first contributions to this body was his Catalogue of Plants growing spontaneously within Thirty Miles of the City of New York (Albany, 1819). Its publication gained for him the recognition of foreign and native botanists. In 1824 he issued the only volume of his Flora of the Northern and Middle States. This used John Lindley's system of classifying flora, a way of classifying that was not commonly used in the United States.

He found the medical profession uncongenial, and on 5 August 1824 he entered the United States Army as an assistant surgeon and became acting professor of chemistry and geology at West Point military academy. Three years later, he became professor of chemistry and botany in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York (the medical school of Columbia University), where he stayed until 1855, when he was made professor emeritus. He was also professor of chemistry at Princeton 1830-1854, and of chemistry, mineralogy, and botany at the University of the City of New York 1832/3. He resigned from his Army position on 31 August 1828.