William Henry Brewer
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
botanist. He worked on the first California Geological Survey
California Geological Survey
Although it was not until 1880 that the California State Mining Bureau, predecessor to the California Geological Survey, was established, the "roots" of California's state geological survey date to an earlier time...
and was the first Chair of Agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
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...
's Sheffield Scientific School
Sheffield Scientific School
Sheffield Scientific School was founded in 1847 as a school of Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut for instruction in science and engineering. Originally named the Yale Scientific School, it was renamed in 1861 in honor of Joseph E. Sheffield, the railroad executive. The school was...
.
William H. Brewer was born in Poughkeepsie, New York
Poughkeepsie (city), New York
Poughkeepsie is a city in the state of New York, United States, which serves as the county seat of Dutchess County. Poughkeepsie is located in the Hudson River Valley midway between New York City and Albany...
and grew up on a farm in Enfield, New York
Enfield, New York
Enfield is a town in Tompkins County, New York, United States. The population was 3,369 at the 2000 census.The Town of Enfield is located on the western border of the county and is west of Ithaca.- History :...
. In 1848 Brewer attended Yale and began studying soil chemistry
Environmental chemistry
Environmental chemistry is the scientific study of the chemical and biochemical phenomena that occur in natural places. It should not be confused with green chemistry, which seeks to reduce potential pollution at its source...
under Professors 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:...
and John Pitkin Norton
John Pitkin Norton
John Pitkin Norton was a noted educator, agricultural chemist, and author. He was born in Albany, New York....
. There, Brewer was one of the founding members of the Berzelius Society
Berzelius
Berzelius is a secret society at Yale University named for the Swedish scientist Jöns Jakob Berzelius, considered one of the founding fathers of modern chemistry...
. In 1852 he graduated from the first class of the Sheffield Scientific School with a Bachelor of Philosophy degree and began teaching at the Ovid Academy in Ovid, New York
Ovid (town), New York
Ovid is a town in Seneca County, New York, United States. The population was 2,757 at the 2000 census. The town is named after the Roman poet Ovid, a name assigned by a clerk interested in the classics....
. It was in Ovid where Brewer first befriended Presbyterian minister Laurentine Hamilton
Laurentine Hamilton
Laurentine Hamilton was a Presbyterian minister accused of heresy, and founder of the First Unitarian Church of Oakland....
.
In 1855 Brewer travelled to Europe where he studied natural science
Natural science
The natural sciences are branches of science that seek to elucidate the rules that govern the natural world by using empirical and scientific methods...
under Professor Robert Bunsen
Robert Bunsen
Robert Wilhelm Eberhard Bunsen was a German chemist. He investigated emission spectra of heated elements, and discovered caesium and rubidium with Gustav Kirchhoff. Bunsen developed several gas-analytical methods, was a pioneer in photochemistry, and did early work in the field of organoarsenic...
at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. He then went to Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
to study organic chemistry
Organic chemistry
Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, composition, reactions, and preparation of carbon-based compounds, hydrocarbons, and their derivatives...
under Professor Justus von Liebig
Justus von Liebig
Justus von Liebig was a German chemist who made major contributions to agricultural and biological chemistry, and worked on the organization of organic chemistry. As a professor, he devised the modern laboratory-oriented teaching method, and for such innovations, he is regarded as one of the...
. In 1857 Brewer went to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France and studied chemistry under Professor Michel Eugène Chevreul
Michel Eugène Chevreul
Michel Eugène Chevreul was a French chemist whose work with fatty acids led to early applications in the fields of art and science. He is credited with the discovery of margaric acid and designing an early form of soap made from animal fats and salt...
. In 1858 Brewer returned to the United States and was appointed professor of chemistry at Washington and Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania
Washington, Pennsylvania
Washington is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Pennsylvania, United States, within the Pittsburgh Metro Area in the southwestern part of the state...
.
In 1860, shortly after the death of his wife and newborn son, Brewer was invited by Josiah D. Whitney
Josiah Whitney
Josiah Dwight Whitney was an American geologist, professor of geology at Harvard University , and chief of the California Geological Survey...
to become the chief botanist of the California Geological Survey. Brewer led field parties in the extensive survey of the geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
of 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...
until 1864, when he became the Chair of Agriculture at Sheffield Scientific School. Brewer wrote extensively during the survey including many letters to family and friends, a compendium of which was eventually published by the Yale University Press
Yale University Press
Yale University Press is a book publisher founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day. It became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but remains financially and operationally autonomous....
in 1930 as Up and Down California in 1860-1864. It is a well-regarded and evocative first-person history of California during that period.
During his tenure at Yale, Brewer took part in a survey of Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
in 1869. In 1899 he was hired by Edward Henry Harriman to take part in his famous Alaskan expedition
Harriman Alaska Expedition
In 1899, wealthy railroad magnate Edward Harriman arranged for a maritime expedition to Alaska. Harriman brought with him an elite community of scientists, artists, photographers, and naturalists to explore and document the Alaskan coast...
. In 1903 Brewer retired from teaching, and died at his New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
home in 1910.
Mount Brewer
Mount Brewer
Mount Brewer is on the Great Western Divide, a sub-range of the Sierra Nevada in California. It is located in Kings Canyon National Park,The peak was named for William Henry Brewer who worked on the first California Geological Survey and was the first Chair of Agriculture at Yale University's...
, located in the Sierra Nevada mountain range
Mountain range
A mountain range is a single, large mass consisting of a succession of mountains or narrowly spaced mountain ridges, with or without peaks, closely related in position, direction, formation, and age; a component part of a mountain system or of a mountain chain...
, is named after him, as is the very rare spruce Picea breweriana, Brewer Spruce, endemic to the Klamath Mountains of southwest Oregon and northwest California.