William Barton Rogers (December 7, 1804 – May 30, 1882) is best known for setting down the founding principles, advocating for, and finally incorporating the
Massachusetts 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 research...
(MIT) in 1861. The university opened in 1865 after the
American Civil WarThe American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America...
.
Rogers graduated from the
College of William and MaryThe College of William & Mary in Virginia is a public research university located in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States...
and later held W&M's Professorship of Natural Philosophy and Chemistry from 1828 until 1835. He then served as Professor of Natural Philosophy at the
University of VirginiaThe University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
from 1835 until 1853, when he resigned in protest.
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William Barton Rogers (December 7, 1804 – May 30, 1882) is best known for setting down the founding principles, advocating for, and finally incorporating the
Massachusetts 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 research...
(MIT) in 1861. The university opened in 1865 after the
American Civil WarThe American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America...
.
Rogers graduated from the
College of William and MaryThe College of William & Mary in Virginia is a public research university located in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States...
and later held W&M's Professorship of Natural Philosophy and Chemistry from 1828 until 1835. He then served as Professor of Natural Philosophy at the
University of VirginiaThe University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
from 1835 until 1853, when he resigned in protest. While Rogers was Chair of the Department of Philosophy at UVA, he vigorously defended the University's refusal to award
honoris causa degrees to the Virginia State Legislature. He went on to found and serve as president of MIT from 1861 to 1870.
Though Rogers stood down from this position because of declining health, by necessity he returned to office in 1878 and continued to 1881. He died after collapsing during a speech at MIT's 1882 commencement exercises. His last words were "
bituminous coalBituminous coal or black coal is a relatively soft coal containing a tarlike substance called bitumen. It is of higher quality than lignite coal but of poorer quality than anthracite coal....
".
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