Silliman Memorial Lectures
Encyclopedia
The Silliman Memorial lecture series was established in 1888 in memory of Mrs. Hepsa Ely Silliman, the wife of Gold S. Silliman
, the mother of Benjamin Silliman
, one of the first professors of science at Yale University
and the first person to fractionate petroleum. It was established from a legacy of $80,000 left in 1883 and the fund was possessed by Yale University, who publish the lectures, in 1901.
The lectures are designed to illustrate the
presence and providence, the wisdom and goodness of God, as
manifested in the natural and moral world. It is the
belief of the testator that any orderly presentation of the facts
of nature or history contributed to the end of this foundation
more effectively than any attempt to emphasize the elements of
doctrine or creed; and he therefore provided that lectures on
dogmatic or polemical theology should be excluded from the scope
of this foundation, and that the subjects should be selected rather
from the domains of natural science and history, giving special
prominence to astronomy, chemistry, geology, and anatomy.
The year given is sometimes that of the publication of the book rather than that in which the lectures were given.
Gold Selleck Silliman
Gold Selleck Silliman was born in Fairfield, Connecticut, graduated from Yale University and practiced law and served as a crown attorney before the American Revolution...
, the mother of Benjamin Silliman
Benjamin Silliman
Benjamin Silliman was an American chemist, one of the first American professors of science , and the first to distill petroleum.-Early life:...
, one of the first professors of science at Yale University
Yale University
Yale 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...
and the first person to fractionate petroleum. It was established from a legacy of $80,000 left in 1883 and the fund was possessed by Yale University, who publish the lectures, in 1901.
The lectures are designed to illustrate the
presence and providence, the wisdom and goodness of God, as
manifested in the natural and moral world. It is the
belief of the testator that any orderly presentation of the facts
of nature or history contributed to the end of this foundation
more effectively than any attempt to emphasize the elements of
doctrine or creed; and he therefore provided that lectures on
dogmatic or polemical theology should be excluded from the scope
of this foundation, and that the subjects should be selected rather
from the domains of natural science and history, giving special
prominence to astronomy, chemistry, geology, and anatomy.
Lecturers (partial list)
- 1904 Charles Sherrington The Integrative Action of the Nervous System
- 1905 J.J. Thompson Electricity and Matter
- 1906 Ernest RutherfordErnest RutherfordErnest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson OM, FRS was a New Zealand-born British chemist and physicist who became known as the father of nuclear physics...
Radioactive Transformations - 1907 Walter Nernst Experimental and theoretical Applications of Thermodynamics to Chemistry
- 1913 William BatesonWilliam BatesonWilliam Bateson was an English geneticist and a Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge...
Problems of Genetics - 1910 William Wallace CampbellWilliam Wallace CampbellWilliam Wallace Campbell was an American astronomer, and director of Lick Observatory from 1900 to 1930. He specialized in spectroscopy.-Biography:...
Stellar Motions - 1911 Max VerwornMax VerwornMax Richard Constantin Verworn was a German physiologist who was a native of Berlin.He studied medicine and natural sciences in Berlin, and later moved to Jena, where he furthered his studies with Ernst Haeckel and William Thierry Preyer...
Irritability - 1912 Svante ArrheniusSvante ArrheniusSvante August Arrhenius was a Swedish scientist, originally a physicist, but often referred to as a chemist, and one of the founders of the science of physical chemistry...
Theory of Solutions - 1913 William North RiceWilliam North RiceWilliam North Rice was an American geologist, educator, and Methodist minister and theologian concerned with reconciliation of science and religious faith.-Early life and education:...
and others Problems of American Geology - 1913 William OslerWilliam OslerSir William Osler, 1st Baronet was a physician. He was one of the "Big Four" founding professors at Johns Hopkins Hospital as the first Professor of Medicine and founder of the Medical Service there. Sir William Osler, 1st Baronet (July 12, 1849 – December 29, 1919) was a physician. He was...
The Evolution of Modern Medicine - 1914 Joseph Paxson Iddings The problem of volcanism
- 1916 John Scott Haldane Organism and Environment as illustrated by the physiology of breathing
- 1918 George Lincoln GoodaleGeorge Lincoln GoodaleGeorge Lincoln Goodale was an American botanist, born at Saco, Maine. He graduated at Amherst College in 1860 and at Harvard Medical School in 1863, after which he practiced at Portland, Me., until 1867; became professor of natural science and applied chemistry at Bowdoin; and at Harvard was...
The Development of Botany since 1818 - 1919 Edward Salisbury DanaEdward Salisbury DanaEdward Salisbury Dana was an American mineralogist and physicist. He made important contributions to the study of minerals, especially in the field of crystallography.-Life and career:...
and others A Century of Science in America - 1921 Franz CumontFranz CumontFranz-Valéry-Marie Cumont was a Belgian archaeologist and historian, a philologist and student of epigraphy, who brought these often isolated specialties to bear on the syncretic mystery religions of Late Antiquity, notably Mithraism. Cumont was a graduate of the University of Ghent...
After life in Roman Paganism - 1922 August KroghAugust KroghSchack August Steenberg Krogh FRS was a Danish professor of Romani background at the department of zoophysiology at the University of Copenhagen from 1916-1945...
The anatomy and physiology of capillaries - 1923 Jacques HadamardJacques HadamardJacques Salomon Hadamard FRS was a French mathematician who made major contributions in number theory, complex function theory, differential geometry and partial differential equations.-Biography:...
Lectures on Cauchy's problem in linear partial differential equations - 1928 Thomas Hunt MorganThomas Hunt MorganThomas Hunt Morgan was an American evolutionary biologist, geneticist and embryologist and science author who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1933 for discoveries relating the role the chromosome plays in heredity.Morgan received his PhD from Johns Hopkins University in zoology...
The theory of the gene - 1932 Heinrich Otto WielandHeinrich Otto WielandHeinrich Otto Wieland was a German chemist. He won the 1927 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research into the bile acids. In 1901 Wieland received his doctorate at the University of Munich while studying under Johannes Thiele...
On the mechanism of oxidation - 1934 Reginald Aldworth DalyReginald Aldworth Daly-External links:* Daly′s Biography, American Geophysical Union* GSA Today, vol. 16, no. 2, 2006* National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC, 36 pp., 1960...
The Changing World of the Ice Age - 1935 William OslerWilliam OslerSir William Osler, 1st Baronet was a physician. He was one of the "Big Four" founding professors at Johns Hopkins Hospital as the first Professor of Medicine and founder of the Medical Service there. Sir William Osler, 1st Baronet (July 12, 1849 – December 29, 1919) was a physician. He was...
The evolution of modern medicine - 1936 Joseph NeedhamJoseph NeedhamNoel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham, CH, FRS, FBA , also known as Li Yuese , was a British scientist, historian and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing on the history of Chinese science. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1941, and as a fellow of the British...
Order and Life - 1937 Edwin Powell Hubble The Realm of the Nebula
- 1939 Richard Benedict Goldschmidt The Material basis of Evolution
- 1947 Ernest O. Lawrence, Linus PaulingLinus PaulingLinus Carl Pauling was an American chemist, biochemist, peace activist, author, and educator. He was one of the most influential chemists in history and ranks among the most important scientists of the 20th century...
and others Centennial of the Sheffield Scientific School - 1950 Enrico FermiEnrico FermiEnrico Fermi was an Italian-born, naturalized American physicist particularly known for his work on the development of the first nuclear reactor, Chicago Pile-1, and for his contributions to the development of quantum theory, nuclear and particle physics, and statistical mechanics...
Elementary Particles - 1951 D. M. S. Watson Paleontology and Modern Biology
- 1952 Hans Pettersson The Ocean Floor
- 1954 Ragnar GranitRagnar GranitRagnar Arthur Granit was a Finnish/Swedish scientist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1967 along with Haldan Keffer Hartline and George Wald....
Receptors and sensory perception - 1956 John von NeumannJohn von NeumannJohn von Neumann was a Hungarian-American mathematician and polymath who made major contributions to a vast number of fields, including set theory, functional analysis, quantum mechanics, ergodic theory, geometry, fluid dynamics, economics and game theory, computer science, numerical analysis,...
The Computer and the Brain (not delivered due to illness which led to death) - 1958 Glenn Theodore Seaborg The transuranium elements
- 1961 Kenneth SpenceKenneth SpenceKenneth Wartenbe Spence was a prominent American psychologist. His most prominent work was discovering Spence's Theory of Stimulus Control.Collaborateur of Clark Hull, he was a professor at McGill University in Montreal....
Behavior theory and conditioning - 1967 Harold Clayton Urey The planets, their origin and development
- 1967 Jacob BronowskiJacob BronowskiJacob Bronowski was a Polish-Jewish British mathematician, biologist, historian of science, theatre author, poet and inventor...
The Origins of Knowledge and Imagination - 1968 René DubosRené DubosRené Jules Dubos was a French-born American microbiologist, experimental pathologist, environmentalist, humanist, and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction for his book So Human An Animal. He is credited as an author of a maxim "Think globally, act locally"...
Man adapting - 1968 Malcolm McKennaMalcolm McKennaMalcolm Carnegie McKenna was an American paleontologist. He was the curator of vertebrate paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History and co-authored the book Classification of Mammals along with Susan K. Bell...
Evolution and Environment - 1969 Ross Granville HarrisonRoss Granville HarrisonRoss Granville Harrison was an American biologist and anatomist credited as the first to work successfully with artificial tissue culture....
Organization and Development of the Embryo - 1971 Karl Turekian Late Cenozoic Glacial Ages
- 1977 Theodosius DobzhanskyTheodosius DobzhanskyTheodosius Grygorovych Dobzhansky ForMemRS was a prominent geneticist and evolutionary biologist, and a central figure in the field of evolutionary biology for his work in shaping the unifying modern evolutionary synthesis...
Mankind Evolving - 1981 Anne McLarenAnne McLarenThe Hon. Dame Anne Laura Dorinthea McLaren, DBE, FRS, FRCOG was the daughter of Henry McLaren, 2nd Baron Aberconway and Christabel McNaughten. She became a leading figure in developmental biology. Her work helped lead to human in vitro fertilisation...
Germ Cells and Soma: a new look at an old problem - 1994 D. Allan BromleyD. Allan BromleyDavid Allan Bromley was a Canadian–American physicist, academic administrator and Science Advisor to American president George H. W. Bush. At the time of his death, he had over 500 publications.-Life:...
The President's Scientists. Reminiscences of a White House science advisor - 1996 Eugene Shoemaker Near Earth Asteroids and Comets
The year given is sometimes that of the publication of the book rather than that in which the lectures were given.