Call Number:

7374

Repository:

The Historical and Interpretive Collections of The Franklin Institute

Extent:

4.2 linear feet

Language:

English

Date:

1847-1910 (inclusive)

Creator:

Gibbs, Wolcott, 1822-1908

Abstract:

Oliver Wolcott Gibbs (February 21, 1822-December 9, 1908) was an American chemist who is best known for his work in inorganic and analytical chemistry, specifically with the cobalt-amines, platinum metals, and complex acids. He is also known for performing the first electrogravimetric analyses and serving as president of various national science organizations. The Oliver Wolcott Gibbs papers, 1847-1910, consist largely of correspondence and other papers relating to scientific matters and Gibbs' roles in various organizations, especially the National Academy of Sciences. A significant amount of printed matter, such as pamphlets, reprints of articles written by Gibbs, Gibbs' speeches/addresses, and obituaries of him; a few photographs and objects; and a small amount of other materials are also present in the collection.

Born to George and Laura Gibbs in New York, New York on February 21, 1822, Oliver Wolcott Gibbs was an American chemist who is best known for his work in inorganic and analytical chemistry, specifically with the cobalt-amines, platinum metals, and complex acids. He is also known for performing the first electrogravimetric analyses.

Gibbs' father, Colonel George Gibbs, was one of America's earliest mineralogists. In 1837, Wolcott Gibbs (he dropped the name "Oliver" early on in his career) became a student at Columbia College (now Columbia University) in New York, New York. During his junior year, Gibbs developed a new form of galvanic battery. In 1841, after graduating from Columbia, Gibbs went to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to work as an assistant in the laboratory of Robert Hare, a well-known chemistry professor at the University of Pennsylvania. After several months of working with Hare, Gibbs returned to New York to attend the College of Physicians and Surgeons (now part of Columbia University), earning his doctor of medicine degree in 1845. Seeking advanced education in chemistry, Gibbs next traveled Europe, studying first in Berlin, Germany and then Paris, France before returning to his home in New York in 1848.

After returning from Europe, Gibbs became a professor of chemistry at the newly established Free Academy of the City of New York (now the City College of New York). In 1857, he published his investigation of ammonia-cobalt compounds with F.A. Genth, a chemistry professor at the University of Pennsylvania. This study was so thorough that it allowed for very little in the way of experiments for future work and firmly established Gibbs' reputation in the field of chemistry. Gibbs also created new methods for separating platinum metals in 1861.

Gibbs left his position at the Free Academy in 1863 to teach at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he remained until his retirement in 1887. Gibbs invented the ring burner in 1873, which is considered to be his most important contribution to the apparatus of analytical chemistry. Four years later, in 1877, he created an excellent method for preparing nitrogen. Gibbs moved to Newport, Rhode Island when he retired, working for the next ten years in his own laboratory.

Gibbs was involved in several science organizations and published numerous articles in various scientific journals, several on spectroscopy and the measurement of wavelengths. He was the only American to be an honorary member of the German Chemical Society. Gibbs was one of the founders of the National Academy of Sciences in 1863, and served as its president from 1895 to 1900. In 1866, Gibbs became the vice-president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and in 1897, he was also elected its president. Additionally, he was associated with non-science based organizations. He was a co-founder of the Union League Club of New York City and served on the United States Sanitary Commission during the Civil War. Wolcott Gibbs passed away on December 9, 1908.

Bibliography:

Clarke, F.W. "Biographical Memoir of Wolcott Gibbs, 1822-1908." In Biographical Memoirs, Volume VII. Washington D.C.: The National Academy of Sciences, 1910. Accessed April 9, 2015. http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/gibbs-wolcott.pdf

This collection, dating from 1847 to 1910, consists largely of correspondence and other papers relating to scientific matters and Gibbs' roles in various organizations, especially the National Academy of Sciences. A few of the notable scientists featured prominently in the correspondence include Ogden N. Rood, a physicist known for his work in color theory; B. A. Gould, an astronomer known for creating the Astronomical Journal and discovering the Gould Belt in the Milky Way; and engineer and scientist Alexander Agassiz, who served as the president of the National Academy of Sciences from 1901 to 1907. There is a small amount of papers on the United States Sanitary Commission, although there is not much, if any, material on his involvement in the founding of The Union League Club of New York City. A significant amount of printed matter, such as pamphlets, reprints of articles written by Gibbs, Gibbs' speeches/addresses, and obituaries of him; a few photographs and objects; and a small amount of other materials are also present in the collection. A box list is available on-site.

Box 1 Obituaries, research papers, papers relating to the National Academy of Sciences and memoirs of others, geological surveys and maps

Box 2 Papers on the United States Sanitary Commission, telephone and telegraph, forestry, and other interests of Gibbs; various pamphlets; research papers by other people

Box 3 Scientific related correspondence, Agassiz letters, other letters and correspondence, committee appointments, magnifying glass/ceremonial gift

Box 4 Letters to B. A. Gould, 1874-1896, and letters to Ogden Rood, 1860-1902

Box 5 Miscellaneous letters, National Academy of Sciences material, a bound record book of correspondence

Box 6 National Academy of Sciences bound book of letters, a file of letters to the Academy president

Box 7 Information on legal matters relating to Bell Telephone law suits on telephone, 1883

Box 8 An academic hood, photographs, and portraits

Box 9 Letters to Gibbs, materials relating to the University Club at Harvard, and other materials

Box 10 Materials related to the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences' Bache Fund (a bequest of Alexander Dallas Bache, the first president of the National Academy of Sciences, to aid research in the physical and natural sciences), and the Hofmann Fund