Seeley G. Mudd
Encyclopedia
Seeley Greenleaf Mudd, M.D. (April 18, 1895 – March 10, 1968) was an American
physician
, professor
, and philanthropist
.
Mudd was born in Denver, Colorado
in 1895, and was the son of noted mining engineer Seeley W. Mudd
and brother of Harvey S. Mudd, also a miner, businessman, and philanthropist. He was eight when his family moved to Los Angeles
, California
. He attended Stanford University
for two years before transferring to Columbia University
, where he received a B.S. degree in mining engineering
. He later attended Harvard Medical School
where he received his M.D. degree in 1924.
Dr. Mudd practiced cardiology
in Los Angeles before joining the faculty at the California Institute of Technology
, where he did work on cancer research. He was later professor and dean at the School of Medicine at the University of Southern California
.
During his lifetime, Dr. Mudd contributed more than $10 million to private colleges and universities. Via his will, he created the Seeley G. Mudd Foundation to continue the work "that educational excellence be supported in the form of grants for the construction of buildings for teaching, learning, and research."
Several major academic institutions have buildings named in honor of Mudd, including:
It is a common misconception that the Engineering building at Columbia University
was also named for Seeley G. Mudd. It is, in fact, named for his father, Seeley Wintersmith Mudd
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
, professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
, and philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
.
Mudd was born in Denver, Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
in 1895, and was the son of noted mining engineer Seeley W. Mudd
Seeley W. Mudd
Col. Seeley Wintersmith Mudd was a mining engineer. He was born in Kirkwood, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri on August 16, 1861. He attended Washington University of St. Louis, where he graduated in 1883 with a degree in mining engineering. In December 1885, he moved to Leadville, Colorado, to...
and brother of Harvey S. Mudd, also a miner, businessman, and philanthropist. He was eight when his family moved to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. He attended Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
for two years before transferring to Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, where he received a B.S. degree in mining engineering
Mining engineering
Mining engineering is an engineering discipline that involves the practice, the theory, the science, the technology, and application of extracting and processing minerals from a naturally occurring environment. Mining engineering also includes processing minerals for additional value.Mineral...
. He later attended Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School is the graduate medical school of Harvard University. It is located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts....
where he received his M.D. degree in 1924.
Dr. Mudd practiced cardiology
Cardiology
Cardiology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the heart . The field includes diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular heart disease and electrophysiology...
in Los Angeles before joining the faculty at the California Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
, where he did work on cancer research. He was later professor and dean at the School of Medicine at the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
.
During his lifetime, Dr. Mudd contributed more than $10 million to private colleges and universities. Via his will, he created the Seeley G. Mudd Foundation to continue the work "that educational excellence be supported in the form of grants for the construction of buildings for teaching, learning, and research."
Several major academic institutions have buildings named in honor of Mudd, including:
- Albion CollegeAlbion CollegeAlbion College is a private liberal arts college located in Albion, Michigan. Related to the United Methodist Church, it was founded in 1835 and was the first private college in Michigan to have a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. It has a student population of about 1500.The school's sports teams are...
: Seeley G. Mudd Learning Center - Amherst CollegeAmherst CollegeAmherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...
: The Seeley Mudd Building - Caltech: The Seeley G. Mudd Building of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences
- Carleton CollegeCarleton CollegeCarleton College is an independent non-sectarian, coeducational, liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, USA. The college enrolls 1,958 undergraduate students, and employs 198 full-time faculty members. In 2012 U.S...
: Seeley G. Mudd Hall of Science, which houses the chemistry and geology departments - Claremont School of TheologyClaremont School of TheologyClaremont School of Theology is a graduate school located in Claremont, California, offering Master of Art, Masters of Divinity, Doctorate of Ministry and Ph.D...
: - Colby CollegeColby CollegeColby College is a private liberal arts college located on Mayflower Hill in Waterville, Maine. Founded in 1813, it is the 12th-oldest independent liberal arts college in the United States...
: Seeley G. Mudd Science Building - Cornell UniversityCornell UniversityCornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
: Mudd Hall, the center for Neurobiology and Behavior - Denison UniversityDenison UniversityDenison University is private, coeducational, and residential college of liberal arts and sciences founded in 1831. It is located in Granville, Ohio, United States, approximately 30 miles east of Columbus, the state capital...
: Seeley G. Mudd Learning Center, addition to William Howard Doane Library - University of DenverUniversity of DenverThe University of Denver is currently ranked 82nd among all public and private "National Universities" by U.S. News & World Report in the 2012 rankings....
: Seeley G. Mudd Science building - Duke University Medical Center: Seeley G. Mudd building
- Harvard Medical SchoolHarvard Medical SchoolHarvard Medical School is the graduate medical school of Harvard University. It is located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts....
: Seeley G. Mudd building - Howard UniversityHoward UniversityHoward University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...
: College of Medicine's pre-clinical science facility - Johns Hopkins UniversityJohns Hopkins UniversityThe Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
: Seeley G. Mudd Science building - Lawrence UniversityLawrence UniversityLawrence University is a selective, private liberal arts college with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, in Appleton, Wisconsin. Lawrence University is known for its rigorous academic environment. Founded in 1847, the first classes were held on November 12, 1849...
: Seeley G. Mudd Library - Lehigh UniversityLehigh UniversityLehigh University is a private, co-educational university located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of the United States. It was established in 1865 by Asa Packer as a four-year technical school, but has grown to include studies in a wide variety of disciplines...
: Seeley G. Mudd building - Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyThe Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
:Seeley G. Mudd Building - Northwestern UniversityNorthwestern UniversityNorthwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
: Seeley G. Mudd Library for Science and Engineering - Oberlin CollegeOberlin CollegeOberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...
: Seeley G. Mudd Learning Center - Pitzer CollegePitzer CollegePitzer College is a private residential liberal arts college located in Claremont, California, a college town approximately east of downtown Los Angeles. Pitzer College is one of the Claremont Colleges....
: Seeley G. Mudd Library (now part of the Honnold/Mudd Library) - Polytechnic SchoolPolytechnic SchoolPolytechnic School, often referred to as simply Poly, is a college preparatory private school in Pasadena, California.-History:The school was founded in 1907 as the first private non-sectarian, non-profit elementary school in California. It descends from the Throop Polytechnic Institute founded by...
: Seeley G. Mudd Science building - Pomona CollegePomona CollegePomona College is a private, residential, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. Founded in 1887 in Pomona, California by a group of Congregationalists, the college moved to Claremont in 1889 to the site of a hotel, retaining its name. The school enrolls 1,548 students.The founding member...
: Seeley G. Mudd Science Library - Princeton UniversityPrinceton UniversityPrinceton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
: The Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library - Rice UniversityRice UniversityWilliam Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...
: Seeley G. Mudd Computer Science Laboratory - University of Southern CaliforniaUniversity of Southern CaliforniaThe University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
: The psychology and chemistry buildings; the medical research building on the health sciences campus - Stanford UniversityStanford UniversityThe Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
: Seeley G. Mudd Chemistry Building - Vassar CollegeVassar CollegeVassar College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, in the United States. The Vassar campus comprises over and more than 100 buildings, including four National Historic Landmarks, ranging in style from Collegiate Gothic to International,...
: Seeley G. Mudd Chemistry Building, built in 1984 - Washington University in St. LouisWashington University in St. LouisWashington University in St. Louis is a private research university located in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1853, and named for George Washington, the university has students and faculty from all fifty U.S. states and more than 110 nations...
: Seeley G. Mudd House residence hall, as well as the former Seeley G. Mudd Hall for the School of Law (an award-winning building for its use of concrete that ultimately proved unpopular with the University community, demolished 25 years after its 1972 dedication) - Westridge School: Seeley G. Mudd Science Building
- Whitworth UniversityWhitworth UniversityWhitworth University is a private Christian liberal arts college located in Spokane, Washington, United States, that offers Bachelor's and Master's degrees in a variety of academic disciplines. It is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church...
: Seeley G. Mudd Chapel - Williamette University: Seeley G. Mudd Building
- Yale UniversityYale UniversityYale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
: Seeley G. Mudd Library
It is a common misconception that the Engineering building at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
was also named for Seeley G. Mudd. It is, in fact, named for his father, Seeley Wintersmith Mudd
Seeley W. Mudd
Col. Seeley Wintersmith Mudd was a mining engineer. He was born in Kirkwood, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri on August 16, 1861. He attended Washington University of St. Louis, where he graduated in 1883 with a degree in mining engineering. In December 1885, he moved to Leadville, Colorado, to...
.
External links
- Short bio and picture of Dr. Seeley G. Mudd
- Biography of Seeley G. Mudd from the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library website at Princeton University
- Whitworth University Campus Map