Benjamin Smith Barton
This Philadelphia professor wrote the first American botany textbook, seeding the study of plants in a new nation.
1766–1815 (age 49)·American physician, professor, and botanist·Birthday: February 10
Biography
Benjamin Smith Barton was a man of the American Enlightenment, a Philadelphia intellectual who turned his keen eye to the natural world. Appointed as a professor of natural history and botany at the University of Pennsylvania while still in his twenties, he filled a void in the young republic's scientific education. He was less a laboratory recluse and more a voracious collector and synthesizer of knowledge, amassing a huge herbarium and corresponding with thinkers across the Atlantic. His 1803 textbook, 'Elements of Botany,' became the standard work for a generation of students and doctors, for whom plant knowledge was essential to medicine. Barton also mentored the young Meriwether Lewis, preparing him for the botanical discoveries of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, though a dispute over credit for this work clouded his later years.
#1 When Benjamin Was Born
The biggest hits of 1766
Benjamin's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1766Born
1771Started school
1779Became a teenager
1782Could drive
1784Could vote
1787Turned 21
1796Turned 30
1806Turned 40
1815Died at 49
Key Achievements
- Authored 'Elements of Botany' (1803), the first American textbook on the subject.
- Built the largest collection of botanical specimens in the United States during his lifetime.
- Was one of the first professors of natural history in the U.S., teaching at the University of Pennsylvania.
- Provided botanical training to Meriwether Lewis before the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Did You Know?
He suffered from poor health for much of his life, including a condition that affected his vision.
His uncle was David Rittenhouse, the noted American astronomer and inventor.
He originally studied medicine in Edinburgh but left before completing his degree.
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