Benjamin Ide Wheeler (July 15, 1854– May 2, 1927) was a professor of
Greek and
comparative philology
Comparative linguistics, or comparative-historical linguistics (formerly comparative philology) is a branch of historical linguistics that is concerned with comparing languages to establish their historical relatedness.
Genetic relatedness ...
at
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...
, writer, and President of the
University of California
The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, University of Califor ...
from 1899 to 1919.
Life and career
Early years
Benjamin Ide Wheeler was born in
Randolph, Massachusetts,
[''The Genealogical and Encyclopedic History of the Wheeler Family in America'' (1914) American College of Genealogy (Digitized by Google)] on July 15, 1854, the son of the Rev. Benjamin and Mary Eliza (Ide) Wheeler. His father was successively a church pastor in
Plaistow, New Hampshire;
Pawtucket, Rhode Island
Pawtucket is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 75,604 at the 2020 census, making the city the fourth-largest in the state. Pawtucket borders Providence and East Providence to the south, Central Fall ...
; Randolph, Massachusetts;
Haverhill, Massachusetts
Haverhill ( ) is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. Haverhill is located 35 miles north of Boston on the New Hampshire border and about 17 miles from the Atlantic Ocean. The population was 67,787 at the 2020 United States Cen ...
;
Saco, Maine;
Franklin, New Hampshire
Franklin is a city in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 8,741, the least of New Hampshire's 13 cities. Franklin includes the village of West Franklin.
History
Situated at the confluence of t ...
. His mother, Mary Eliza Ide, was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, daughter of Ebenezer Ide of the Ide family which had its origin in
South Attleborough, then
Rehoboth. Their only son, Benjamin Ide Wheeler, had his education first in the public schools of Haverhill and Saco, Maine. It was at Saco that he first entered a high school in 1866. This high school was the institution which formerly had been called
Thornton Academy
Thornton Academy (often abbreviated as TA) is a co-educational, independent boarding and day school serving grades 9–12 located in Saco, Maine. Thornton Academy also opened a full-time, private junior high school on its campus, named Thornton Ac ...
, and subsequently resumed that name.
[
]
Higher education
On moving in 1868 to Franklin, New Hampshire
Franklin is a city in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 8,741, the least of New Hampshire's 13 cities. Franklin includes the village of West Franklin.
History
Situated at the confluence of t ...
, he entered the Franklin Academy, and after six months there, went to the New London Academy, subsequently Colby–Sawyer College
Colby–Sawyer College is a private baccalaureate college in New London, New Hampshire. It was founded as a coeducational academy in 1837 and sits on a campus.
History
New London Academy
A legislative charter was granted by the State of ...
. From this school he was duly graduated in the summer of 1871. In the following autumn he entered Brown University
Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...
from which he was graduated in 1875. His studies at college followed the usual curriculum without any suggestion of specialization. On the commencement stage he had the honour of the classical oration. During his college course he received the Dunn premium, given for the best work of the year in the department of English, with special reference to writing and speaking, and also one of the Carpenter prizes given to the two students of the year who in the opinion of the faculty combined in the highest degree the elements of success in life.[
]
Teaching career
After graduation, Wheeler taught for four years in the Providence High School. During the first two years, he instructed mostly in mathematics; during the last two year, his work was evenly divided between classics and mathematics. In 1879, he was appointed Tutor in Brown University to take the place, during a temporary absence of two years, of Professor Poland, Assistant Professor in Greek and Latin.[
]
Marriage
On June 25, 1881, Wheeler married Amey Webb of Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...
. She was the daughter of Henry Aborn Webb, a banker of Providence. Her mother, Amey Gorham Webb, was the daughter of Jabez Gorham founder of Gorham Silver,[ that became Gorham Silver Manufacturing Company after his son John Gorham took over.
]
Studies abroad
For four years, 1881–85, Wheeler studied in German universities—for a year at Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...
, then for two years at Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; Palatine German: ') is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914, of which roughly a quarter consisted of students ...
, a half year at Jena
Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a po ...
, and a half year at Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...
. In the spring of 1885, he received on examination at Heidelberg the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, summa cum laude
Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...
, presenting a thesis under Hermann Osthoff
Hermann Osthoff (18 April 1847, Billmerich – 7 May 1909, Heidelberg) was a German linguist. He was involved in Indo-European studies and the Neogrammarian school. He is known for formulating Osthoff's law, and published widely on Indo-E ...
entitled ''Der griechische Nominalaccent'', afterwards published at Strassburg
Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label= Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label= Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the E ...
as a separate book.[ The thesis led to what is known as the law of ''dactylic retraction'' or "Wheelers Law". Joseph Wright, future Corpus Christi Professor of Comparative Philology at ]Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, completed his PhD the same year as Wheeler and also writing his thesis under Osthoff.
Return to America
On returning to America he was for one year Instructor at Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
, 1885–86, then for thirteen years Professor at Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...
, holding at first the title Acting Professor of Classical Philology, 1886–87, then of Professor of Comparative Philology 1887–88, and from 1888 to 1899 that of Professor of Greek and Comparative Philology. In 1899, he became President of the University of California
The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, University of Califor ...
.
During the year 1895–96, he was Professor of Greek Literature at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...
, and during the year 1909–10, Roosevelt Professor at the University of Berlin
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...
. He was member of the American Oriental Society
The American Oriental Society was chartered under the laws of Massachusetts on September 7, 1842. It is one of the oldest learned societies in America, and is the oldest devoted to a particular field of scholarship.
The Society encourages basi ...
, the American Philological Association
The Society for Classical Studies (SCS), formerly known as the American Philological Association (APA) is a non-profit North American scholarly organization devoted to all aspects of Greek and Roman civilization founded in 1869. It is the preemin ...
, and the Kaiserliches Archaeologisches Institut. He received the degree of Doctor of Laws from nine different universities, Princeton, 1896; Harvard, 1900; Brown, 1900; Yale, 1901; Johns Hopkins, 1902; University of Wisconsin, 1904; Dartmouth, 1905; Columbia, 1906; and a degree of Doctor of Letters from the University of Athens in Greece.[
During the ]1906 San Francisco earthquake
At 05:12 Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). High-intensity ...
and fire he was a member of Mayor Eugene Schmitz
Eugene Edward Schmitz (August 22, 1864 – November 20, 1928), often referenced as "Handsome Gene" Schmitz, was an American musician and politician, the 26th mayor of San Francisco (1902-7), who was in office during the 1906 San Francisco earthqu ...
's Committee of Fifty.
During World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
his "well-known German sympathies and admiration for the kaiser
''Kaiser'' is the German word for "emperor" (female Kaiserin). In general, the German title in principle applies to rulers anywhere in the world above the rank of king (''König''). In English, the (untranslated) word ''Kaiser'' is mainly ap ...
" brought suspicion upon him and he retired as President of the University of California after the armistice. Wheeler had previously nominated the kaiser for the Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiolo ...
.
Under Wheeler the University of California underwent one of its periods of greatest growth. He also expanded the powers of the president, gaining the power to appoint all faculty.
Legacy
* The University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...
named Wheeler Hall in his honor.
* The Liberty ship
Liberty ships were a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Though British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost construction. Ma ...
''SS Benjamin Ide Wheeler'' was named in his honor.
* The ''Benjamin Ide Wheeler Medal'' was created in 1929.
* Founding member of the Commonwealth Club of California
The Commonwealth Club of California is a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization based in Northern California. Founded in 1903, it is the oldest and largest public affairs forum in the United States. Membership is open to everyone.
Act ...
in 1903.
Benjamin Ide Wheeler Medal
Since 1929, the award has been given to members of the community of Berkeley for exhibited outstanding contributions. Since 1994, the ''Berkeley Community Fund'' has been granting "Berkeley's Most Useful Citizen" award. Until 1991, it was bi-annual but changed to annual in 1994. Several notable people have received the award:
*1929 William H. Waste
*1931 August Vollmer
*1933 Robert Gordon Sproul
*1935 Chester R. Rowell
*1937 William B. Herms
*1939 Monroe E. Deutsch
*1941 Louise Marks
*1943 Lester W. Hink
*1945 E.O. Lawrence
*1947 Vere V. Loper
*1949 Emery Stone
*1951 Clarence A. Bullwinkel
*1953 Galen M. Fisher
*1955 Walter A. Gordon
*1957 Lilly M. Whitaker
*1959 Robert R. Porter
*1961 Redmond C. Staats, Jr.
*1963 Claude B. Hutchison
Claude Burton Hutchison (April 9, 1885 – August 25, 1980) was an American botanist, agricultural economist, educator, and politician who served as the mayor of Berkeley, California, from 1955 to 1963.
Early life
Hutchison was born on April ...
*1965 Katherine Towle
*1967 Wallace J.S. Johnson
*1969 Roger W. Heyns
*1971 Wilmont Sweeny
*1973 Carol Sibley
*1975 Thomas B. Shaw
*1977 Sylvia C. McLaughlin
*1979 Robert W. Ratcliff
*1981 Paul E. Harberts
*1983 Robert G. Eaneman
*1985 Robert A. Rice
*1987 Margaret S. Gordon
*1989 Fred S. Stripp
*1991 Mary Lee Jefferds
*1994 Ira Michael Heyman
*1995 Alba and Bernard Witkin
*1996 John A. Martin, Jr.
*1997 Chang-Lin Tien
*1998 David R. Brower
David Ross Brower (; July 1, 1912 – November 5, 2000) was a prominent environmentalist and the founder of many environmental organizations, including the John Muir Institute for Environmental Studies (1997), Friends of the Earth (1969), Eart ...
*1999 Marian Cleeves Diamond
Marian Cleeves Diamond (November 11, 1926 – July 25, 2017) was an American scientist and educator who is considered one of the founders of modern neuroscience. She and her team were the first to publish evidence that the brain can change with ...
*2000 Thelton E. Henderson
*2001 Jeffrey Shattuck Leiter
*2002 Alice Waters
*2003 Kent Nagano
*2004 Arthur Rosenfeld, Ph.D.
*2005 Davida Coady
Davida Coady (April 15, 1938 - May 3, 2018) was a U.S. pediatrician and international health activist. She was "devoted to the care of disadvantaged children, refugees, addicts, and lifers".Peter WortsmaAlumni Profile: Davida Coady’65: Protecti ...
, M.D.
*2006 Mal WarwickMal Warwick
Retrieved 2018-08-13
*2007 Robert Cole
*2008 Helen Meyer
*2008 John Meyer
*2009 Steven H. Oliver
*2010 Denny Abrams
*2010 Richard Millikan
*2011 Narsai M. David
*2012 Susan Medak
*2013 Wavy Gravy
*2014 Arlene Blum
Arlene Blum (born March 1, 1945Breaking Trail: A Climbing Life, page 34Chapter 24 /ref>) is an American mountaineer, writer, and environmental health scientist. She is best known for leading the first successful American ascent of Annapurna (I), ...
*2015 Archana Horsting
*2016 Skip Battle
*2017 Vicki Alexander
*2018 Susan Muscarella
*2019 Frances Dinkelspiel, Lance Knobel and Tracey Taylor
Works
Wheeler authored ''Analogy in Language'' (1887); ''Introduction to the Study of the History of Language'' (1890); ''Organization of the Higher Education in the United States'' (1896), published in Munich; ''Dionysos and Immortality'' (1899); ''Life of Alexander the Great'' (1900); ''Instruction and Democracy in America'' (1910) (published in Strassburg, Germany).[
]
Articles
A commencement address at the University of Michigan titled ''The old world in the new, an address delivered at the commencement exercises of the University of Michigan, June 30, 1898'', was published in the August 1898 issue of The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
[- Retrieved 2018-07-31] and ''Art in Language'' was published in the December 1900 issue.[- Retrieved 2018-07-31]
Publications
*''Der griechische Nominalaccent'' (1885)
*''Analogy, and the Scope of its Application in Language'' (1887)
*''Principles of Language Growth'' (1891)
*''Introduction to the Study of the History of Language'' (1891)
*''The Organization of Higher Education in the United States'' (1897)
*''Dionysos and Immortality'' (the Ingersoll Lecture for 1898)
*''Alexander the Great: The Merging of East and West in Universal History'' (1900)
*''The Whence and Whither of the Modern Science of Language'' (1905)
References
External links
*
Guide to the Benjamin Ide Wheeler Papers
at The Bancroft Library
The Bancroft Library in the center of the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, is the university's primary special-collections library. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retai ...
Three Faces of Berkeley--Competing Ideologies in the Wheeler Era, 1899-1919
Benjamin Ide Wheeler materials in the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA)
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wheeler, Benjamin Ide
1854 births
1906 San Francisco earthquake
1927 deaths
Brown University alumni
Cornell University faculty
University of California regents
Leaders of the University of California, Berkeley
People from Randolph, Massachusetts
Educators from Massachusetts
People from San Francisco
Colby–Sawyer College alumni