John Pitkin Norton (July 19, 1822 – September 5, 1852) was an educator, agricultural chemist, and author.

Biography

Norton was born in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...

, in 1822, where his father John Treadwell Norton, a successful farmer and engineer, owned a hardware store. His mother, Mary Hubbard Pitkin, married his father in 1821 and died in 1829. He and his father returned to

Farmington, Connecticut Farmington is a town in Hartford County in the Farmington Valley area of central Connecticut in the United States. The population was 26,712 at the 2020 census. It sits 10 miles west of Hartford at the hub of major I-84 interchanges, 20 miles s ...

, to live on land his father inherited from his grandfather John Treadwell, former

governor of Connecticut The governor of Connecticut is the head of government of Connecticut, and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has a duty to enforce state laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Connecticu ...

. Norton went to Edinburgh in 1844 to study

agricultural chemistry Agricultural chemistry is the study of chemistry, especially organic chemistry and biochemistry, as they relate to agriculture—agricultural production, the processing of raw products into foods and beverages, and environmental monitoring and r ...

with James F. W. Johnston. There he made a study of the

oat The oat (''Avena sativa''), sometimes called the common oat, is a species of cereal grain grown for its seed, which is known by the same name (usually in the plural, unlike other cereals and pseudocereals). While oats are suitable for human con ...

which was read at the

British Association The British Science Association (BSA) is a charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA). The current Chie ...

in June, 1945. He then toured continental laboratories, including a visit with countryman

Eben Horsford Eben Norton Horsford (27 July 1818 – 1 January 1893) was an American scientist who taught agricultural chemistry in the Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard from 1847 to 1863. Later he was known for his reformulation of baking powder, his int ...

who was in Giessen studying with Liebig. To gain greater orientation to

organic chemistry Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain carbon atoms.Clayden, J.; ...

he went to Gerardus Mulder in Utrecht. Norton acted as a

foreign correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...

for ''

The Cultivator Luther Tucker (May 7, 1802 in Brandon, Vermont – January 26, 1873 in Albany, New York) was a publisher of farm journals in Rochester and Albany, New York. Tucker started ''Genesee Farmer'' (January 1, 1831), acquired The Cultivator (January 1840 ...

'' and ''American Agriculturalist'' as he submitted monthly letters describing his observations. Norton studied chemistry under

Benjamin Silliman Benjamin Silliman (August 8, 1779 – November 24, 1864) was an early American chemist and science educator. He was one of the first American professors of science, at Yale College, the first person to use the process of fractional distillat ...

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

, and was eventually appointed professor of agricultural chemistry at Yale in 1846. He helped to found the Department of Philosophy and the Arts at Yale with Silliman's son,

Benjamin Silliman, Jr. Benjamin Silliman Jr. (December 4, 1816 – January 14, 1885) was a professor of chemistry at Yale University and instrumental in developing the oil industry. His father Benjamin Silliman Sr., also a famous Yale chemist, developed the process of ...

, which would later become the

Sheffield Scientific School Sheffield Scientific School was founded in 1847 as a school of Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut, for instruction in science and engineering. Originally named the Yale Scientific School, it was renamed in 1861 in honor of Joseph E. Sheffield, ...

and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. He was the author of ''Elements of Scientific Agriculture'' (1850), and many scientific papers, dealing with the chemistry of crops. During his short teaching career at Yale (1846–52), he took

Samuel William Johnson Samuel William Johnson (3 July 1830 Kingsboro, New York – 1909) was a U.S. American agricultural chemist. He promoted the movement to bring the sciences to the aid of American farmers through agricultural experiment stations and education in ...

as a pupil, who would later become one of the country's foremost educators in scientific agriculture. Norton succumbed to tuberculosis at the age of 30, and died in

, in 1852. He is buried in

Grove Street Cemetery Grove Street Cemetery or Grove Street Burial Ground is a cemetery in New Haven, Connecticut, that is surrounded by the Yale University campus. It was organized in 1796 as the New Haven Burying Ground and incorporated in October 1797 to replace the ...

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

Works

* * * - Originally published in 1850

Legacy

Norton is one of the few scientists recognized in the United States Capitol in Washington DC. A small statue of him is on the

Edmond Amateis Edmond Romulus Amateis (27 February 1897; Rome, Italy – 1 May 1981; Clermont, Florida) was an American sculptor and educator. He is known for garden-figure sculptures, large architectural sculptures for public buildings and portrait busts. Lif ...

bronze doors. (See pp. 350 – 351 of ''Art in the United States Capitol'', 1978, US Government Printing Office.) Norton's house, completed in 1849 and designed by Henry Austin to resemble an

Italian villa A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house built in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Typology and distribution Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) distinguished two kinds of villas ...

, was included in the federal government's

Historic American Buildings Survey Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...

as the John Pitkin Norton House. It was purchased by Yale in 1923 and is now known as

Steinbach Hall Steinbach Hall, also known as the John Pitkin Norton House, is a historic building on the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.. History The house was built in 1848–49 as a private residence for John Pitkin Norton, a science ...

References

External links

John Pitkin Norton papers
MS 367 Manuscripts and Archives,

Yale University Library The Yale University Library is the library system of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Originating in 1701 with the gift of several dozen books to a new "Collegiate School," the library's collection now contains approximately 14.9 milli ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Norton, John Pitkin 1822 births 1852 deaths Yale University faculty American biochemists Burials at Grove Street Cemetery Sheffield Scientific School faculty American agronomists

Biography

Works

Legacy

References

Further reading

External links