Cecil Hobart Peabody (1855 – 1934) was an American

mechanical engineer Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations of ...

, born on August 9 in

Burlington Burlington may refer to: Places Canada Geography * Burlington, Newfoundland and Labrador * Burlington, Nova Scotia * Burlington, Ontario, the most populous city with the name "Burlington" * Burlington, Prince Edward Island * Burlington Bay, no ...

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

. He was very influential in the development of the Mechanical Engineering Department and in founding the Department of Naval Architecture at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

(MIT).

Education and Career

Peabody graduated from

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

in 1877. He became assistant professor of steam engineering in 1883 and in 1893

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

marine engineering Marine engineering is the engineering of boats, ships, submarines, and any other marine vessel. Here it is also taken to include the engineering of other ocean systems and structures – referred to in certain academic and professional circl ...

and

naval architecture Naval architecture, or naval engineering, is an engineering discipline incorporating elements of mechanical, electrical, electronic, software and safety engineering as applied to the engineering design process, shipbuilding, maintenance, and o ...

. Between graduation and his return to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

he was Professor of

Mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

and Engineering at the

Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous city ...

Imperial Agricultural College of

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

for two years and assistant professor of mechanical engineering in the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

. Shortly after beginning his teaching career at MIT Peabody published in 1888 the Tables of Properties of Saturated Steam and Other Vapors and invented the throttling calorimeter. Peabody was ever expanding the course offerings at MIT and in his first year of teaching established courses in Marine Engineering and in 1891 courses in Naval Architecture. The courses led to the development of the Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering in 1893. Peabody retired in 1920 from head of the Department of Naval Architecture.

Publications

* ''Tables of the Properties of Saturated Steam and Other Vapors'' (1888; eighth edition, 1909) * ''

Thermodynamics Thermodynamics is a branch of physics that deals with heat, work, and temperature, and their relation to energy, entropy, and the physical properties of matter and radiation. The behavior of these quantities is governed by the four laws of the ...

of the

Steam Engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...

'' and other Heat-Engines (1889; sixth edition, 1910) * ''Valve-Gears for Steam-Engines'' (1892) * ''Steam Boilers'', with E. F. Miller, (1897; third edition, 1912) * ''Manual of the Steam Engine Indicator'' (1900) * ''Naval Architecture'' (1904; third edition, 1911) * ''Propellers'' (1912) * ''Computation for Marine Engines'' (1913) * ''Thermodynamics of the Steam Turbine''

References

MIT School of Engineering faculty American science writers Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni American engineers Writers from Burlington, Vermont 1855 births 1934 deaths {{US-academic-scientist-stub