John William Draper

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
John William Draper
Grotthuss–Draper law
AwardsRumford Medal (1875)

John William Draper (May 5, 1811 – January 4, 1882) was an English-born American scientist, philosopher, physician, chemist, historian and photographer. He is credited with pioneering portrait photography (1839–40) and producing the first detailed photograph of the moon in 1840. He was also the first president of the American Chemical Society (1876–77) and a founder of the New York University School of Medicine.

One of Draper's books, the History of the Conflict between Religion and Science, popularised the conflict thesis proposing intrinsic hostility in the relationship between religion and science. It was widely read and was translated into several languages.[1]

His son, Henry Draper, and his granddaughter, Antonia Maury, were astronomers. His granddaughter, Carlotta Maury (Antonia's younger sister), was a paleontologist. His eldest son, John Christopher Draper, was a chemist; and son Daniel Draper, a meteorologist.[2]

Early life

John William Draper was born May 5, 1811, in

Wesleyan clergyman, and Sarah (Ripley) Draper. He also had three sisters, Dorothy Catherine Draper (August 6, 1807 – December 10, 1901),[4] Elizabeth Johnson, and Sarah Ripley. On June 23, he was baptized by the Wesleyan Methodist minister Jabez Bunting. His father often needed to move the family due to serving various congregations throughout England. John Wm. Draper was home tutored until 1822, when he entered Woodhouse Grove School. He returned to home instruction (1826) prior to entering University College London in 1829.[5] While at University College London, Draper studied chemistry under the direction of Edward Turner (chemist).[6]

On September 13, 1831, John William Draper married Antonia Caetana de Paiva Pereira Gardner (c. 1814–1870), the daughter of Daniel Gardner, a court physician to

Charlotte of Spain. Antonia was born in Brazil after the royal family fled Portugal with Napoleon's invasion. There is dispute as to the identity of Antonia's mother. Around 1830, Antonia was sent with her brother Daniel to live with their aunt in London.[7]

Following his father's death in July 1831, John William's mother was urged to move with her children to the US state of

Methodist college.[8]

Virginia

In 1832, the family settled in

New York

In 1837, Draper accepted an appointment to be head of chemistry in a proposed medical school at

New York University Medical School
, acting as a professor there from 1840 to 1850, president of the school from 1850 to 1873, and as a professor of chemistry until 1881.

Work

Daguerreotype from a group of portraits believed to have been made by Draper in 1839. It is one of the few early portraits which required the subject to keep his eyes closed due to the bright light.

Draper did important research in photochemistry, made portrait photography possible by his improvements (1839) on Louis Daguerre's process, and published Organization of Plants (1844), a textbook on Chemistry (1846), textbook on Natural Philosophy (1847), textbook on Physiology (1866), and Scientific Memoirs (1878) on radiant energy.

In the spring of 1839, Draper, with years of experience in photochemistry, took Talbotype photographs at Hampden Sydney College in Virginia. However, he was dissatisfied with the results and decided to wait for the publication of the daguerreotype process. Once the details of the process arrived in America in late September 1839, Draper, now a professor at New York University, captured landscape photographs. On or around September 23, he took one of the earliest daguerreotype portraits, which depicted his assistant, William Henry Goode.[11][12]

Throughout 1839 and 1840, Draper focused on solving the challenge of creating daguerreotype portraits. He collaborated with Samuel Morse and in spring 1840 operated a daguerreotype studio, one of the earliest of its kind, in a building on the roof of the New York University.[13] Draper also photographed his sister, Dorothy Catherine Draper, and one of those pictures (see image) became known to the public via the letter which Draper sent to John Herschel in 1840. Several copies were made of this picture in the 19th century, and the photograph attached with Draper's letter was also likely a copy made by Draper himself.[4][14]

The earliest surviving daguerreotype of the Moon by Draper (1840)

In March 1840 Draper became the second person to produce photographs of an astronomical object, the

photomicrographs
and engaged his son, Henry (then 13 years old), into their production.

Draper developed the proposition in 1842 that only light rays that are absorbed can produce chemical change.

Grotthuss–Draper law when his name was teamed with a prior but apparently unknown promulgator Theodor Grotthuss
of the same idea in 1817.

In 1847 he published the observation that all solids glow red at about the same temperature, about 977 °F (798 K), which has come to be known as the Draper point.[18][19]

On Saturday 30 May the

reaction to Darwin's theory due to reports of Thomas Henry Huxley's response to Wilberforce.[20][21]

anti-Catholic rhetoric, but also said that these "two rival divisions of the Christian church" were "in accord on one point: to tolerate no science except such as they considered agreeable to the Scriptures", and both were liable to "theological odium". The book went through fifty printings in the United States alone, and was translated into ten languages.[1] Professor Ronald Numbers has pointed to Draper's book as a source of popular misconceptions about historical conflict between science and religion, saying that it was "less of a dispassionate history, which it wasn't, than a screed against Roman Catholics" motivated by personal animus at the behavior of his sister, a Catholic nun, regarding the death of his son.[22]

Draper was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1844.[23] He served as the first president of the American Chemical Society in 1876.[24] He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1877.[25]

Children

Death

The Draper House (Henry Draper Observatory).

He died on January 4, 1882, at his home in

Brooklyn, New York.[27]

Legacy

In 1975, Draper's house, known as the Henry Draper Observatory, in Hastings was designated a National Historic Landmark.

In 1976, New York University founded the John W. Draper Interdisciplinary Master's Program in Humanities and Social Thought (Draper Program)[28] in honor of his lifelong commitment to interdisciplinary study.

In 2001, Draper and the founding of the American Chemical Society were designated a National Historic Chemical Landmark at New York University.[29]

Publications

Draper wrote a number of books and articles for magazines and journals (Google Scholar). His books include:

References

  1. ^ . Retrieved 23 September 2013.
  2. ^ a b John William Draper. The Notable Names Database
  3. ^ "Personal". Engineering News-record. January 7, 1882. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  4. ^ a b c Howard R. McManus, "The Most Famous Daguerreian Portrait: Exploring the History of the Dorothy Catherine Draper Daguerreotype," The Daguerreian Annual 1995, pp. 148–171.
  5. ^ Fleming 1950.
  6. ^ Wickliff, Gregory A. "John William Draper's Experiments in Light, Photography, and Photolithography". Daguerreian Annual 2011: 145.
  7. ^ Fleming 1950, pp. 7–8.
  8. ^ Fleming 1950, p. 8.
  9. ^ Fleming 1950, pp. 9–13.
  10. ^ Barker, George F. (April 21, 1886). Memoir of John William Draper. 1811-1882 (PDF). Read before the Natural Academy. Retrieved 11 September 2014.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  11. ^ Draper, John W. (1858). "Who Made the First Photographic Portrait?". American Journal of Photography. 1 (1): 2–6.
  12. ^ Beck, B. "First photo". Retrieved May 6, 2023.
  13. .
  14. ^ Scientific American. Munn & Company. 1882-01-14. p. 16.
  15. Chemical Heritage Foundation
    . Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  16. S2CID 143548845
    .
  17. ^ On the idiosyncratic interpretation of the action of what Draper called "Tithonic rays" see Hentschel (2002).
  18. ^ "Science: Draper's Memoirs". The Academy. XIV (338). London: Robert Scott Walker: 408. October 26, 1878.
  19. .
  20. ^ Keith Thomson (May–June 2000). "Huxley, Wilberforce and the Oxford Museum". American Scientist. p. 210. Archived from the original on 2013-12-02. Retrieved 2010-06-22.
  21. Darwin Correspondence Project
    . Retrieved 2010-06-22.
  22. ^ Numbers "Myths and Truths in Science and Religion: A historical perspective" Lecture archive Archived 11 October 2017
  23. ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2021-04-12.
  24. ^ "ACS President: John W. Draper (1811-1882)". American Chemical Society. Retrieved June 5, 2012.
  25. ^ "National Academy of Sciences". National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
  26. ^ New York Times, January 5, 1882.
  27. ^ New York Times, January 11, 1882.
  28. ^ John W. Draper Interdisciplinary Master's Program in Humanities and Social Thought | New York University | Draper Program | NYU Archived 2012-04-24 at the Wayback Machine. Draper.fas.nyu.edu. Retrieved on 2011-09-05.
  29. ^ "John W. Draper and the Founding of the American Chemical Society, 1876". American Chemical Society. Retrieved June 5, 2012.[permanent dead link]

Sources

External links