was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

educator and government adviser in

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

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 ...

Early life

Murray graduated from Union College in 1852.Chamberlain, William Isaac. (1915).
''In Memoriam, David Murray,'' p. 15.
/ref>

Educator

In 1857-1863, Murray was as principal of

The Albany Academy The Albany Academy is an independent college preparatory day school for boys in Albany, New York, USA, enrolling students from Preschool (age 3) to Grade 12. It was established in 1813 by a charter signed by Mayor Philip Schuyler Van Rensselae ...

in New York. From 1863 to 1873, he was a professor of mathematics, natural philosophy and astronomy at

Rutgers College Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

in New Jersey. Together with George Cook, Murray developed a full science curriculum at Rutgers, and successfully lobbied for Rutgers to be named the state's

land grant college A land-grant university (also called land-grant college or land-grant institution) is an institution of higher education in the United States designated by a state to receive the benefits of the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890. Signed by Abraha ...

. Their 1864-67 surveys established the marine boundary between New York and New Jersey, and their 1872 survey fixed the land boundary between New York and New Jersey. Murray was also responsible for the building of Rutgers' first

astronomical observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. His ...

, the Daniel S. Schanck Observatory. In 1873, Murray departed Rutgers to become the educational advisor for the Japanese government. After his return, Murray served on the Rutgers College board of trustees from 1892 until his death in 1905. In Japan, he was Superintendent of Educational Affairs in the Imperial Ministry of Education from 1873 through 1879.

Selected works

In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about David Murray,

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WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCL ...

encompasses roughly 40+ works in 100+ publications in 2 languages and 1,000+ library holdings. * * * * * ''The Development of Modern Education in Japan'' (1904) * ''Japan. Continuing the History to the Close of 1905, with the Provisions of the Treaty of Portsmouth Between Russia and Japan'' (1906)

Notes

References

* Chamberlain, William Isaac. (1915). ''In Memoriam, David Murray, Ph.D., LL. D., Superintendent of Educational Affairs in the Empire of Japan, and Adviser to the Japanese Imperial Minister of Education, 1873-1879.'' New York: private printing
U.S. Library of Congress, online full-text OCLC 7578354
* Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005)
''Japan encyclopedia.''
Cambridge:

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirem ...

.
OCLC 58053128

External links